Online Reporter
Harare is undergoing a major road infrastructure overhaul, with the Government rolling out a coordinated programme of road rehabilitation, widening and construction of interchanges aimed at easing congestion, improving connectivity and reducing travel times across the capital. In this wide-ranging interview with THE SUNDAY MAIL, deputy director for construction and maintenance in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development ENGINEER VIRGINIA MAWERE outlines the major projects underway and planned, including the Delport Road, Simon Mazorodze Road, Robert Mugabe International Airport Expressway and High Glen Road upgrades.
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Q. What is the overall state of road development in Harare at the moment, and can you outline all the major rehabilitation, widening and new road construction projects that are underway?
A: There is quite a lot of activity in and around Harare.
This is part of our coordinated efforts to upgrade the city’s road infrastructure.
I will start off with the Beira Corridor, where we have various roads, feeder roads into the Beira Corridor and junctions that are being upgraded.
Starting off with the Mabvuku Interchange at the Mabvuku-Mutare road junction, we also have the Msasa junction, which is being upgraded to an interchange.
We also have feeder roads that are being worked on. These include Chiremba Road, Delport Road and Tarisa Road.
Further to that, we are also working on the missing link for the RGM International Airport Road, where we are going to upgrade the existing road between Airport Road and the Dieppe Road roundabout.
We are also working on the missing link that will connect Airport Road to the CBD (central business district) and the rest of the city.
Further to that, we are also working on Simon Mazorodze Road, which is part of the North-South Corridor and is actually the starting point of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road.
We are also going to see various junctions being upgraded to interchanges along that section, particularly at the junction with Willowvale Road and also at the junction with Remembrance Drive.
Further to that, we have works that we started along Second Street (Sam Nujoma Street), onto Second Street Extension.
These are being done as part of the upgrading of the Harare-Kariba road, but mainly focusing on the Harare urban section and Greater Harare, where we have dualised the road starting from the junction with Nemakonde Way all the way to the new Parliament junction.
We are continuing with the dualisation, which will extend all the way to Mazowe.
We are also going to be constructing an interchange at the junction of Harare Drive and Second Street Extension.
Touching on Harare Drive, we have a number of junctions that we have identified for upgrading. I have already mentioned the one at Msasa, which is the junction of Mutare Road and Harare Drive.
We also have another one at the junction of Harare Drive and Borrowdale Road, and another one at the junction of Harare Drive and Nemakonde Way, which is along the Harare-Chirundu road. So, this is just a summary of the number of projects that are ongoing in and around Harare.
We are also going to be targeting the North-South Corridor link, which mainly targets High Glen Road. This will connect the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge, Harare-Bulawayo and Harare-Chirundu highways.
High Glen will also see a number of junctions being upgraded, mainly two major interchanges at the junction with Harare-Chirundu road and at the Kuwadzana Roundabout, with other smaller overpasses also being constructed along the stretch of High Glen.
The road itself will also be upgraded.
So, as you can see, this is a coordinated approach to upgrading the road network, which will, in turn, seek to improve safety and reduce travel times, given the issues of congestion and the increase in accidents occurring in and around Harare.
As a ministry, we have, therefore, targeted all the key roads in and around the city, with further areas to be targeted over the next five to 10 years.
Q: There has been considerable interest in the proposed Delport Road project. When exactly is construction expected to begin and what is the scope of the project?
A: I am happy to report that we have actually started work on Delport Road.
The road is approximately 19 kilometres long and is going to be upgraded to surfaced standard, connecting Mutare Road all the way to Airport Road, and ultimately connecting to Seke Road.
Further to that, the scope of works entails constructing a 19-kilometre surfaced road, with an asphalt surface dressing for durability.
Further to that, we are also going to be constructing two trumpet interchanges.
One will be at Seke Road and the other will be at Mutare Road.
So, work on the road itself has already started, with clearing underway, and we are confident that the works will be completed next year. Similarly, we expect work on the Delport Trumpet interchange, which is along Mutare Road, to start within the next two months.
Q: How will this project change connectivity in the eastern and northern parts of Harare?
A: The road connects, as I mentioned, to the Beira Corridor at the junction with Mutare Road. The road then connects and will cross Chiremba Road, which will, of course, improve accessibility to the neighbourhoods and residential areas within that area.
Delport Road will also connect to Airport Road and then to Seke Road.
So, this is going to reduce traffic entering the CBD, particularly traffic coming from the east and connecting to Chitungwiza and Seke. We will be able to do that through Delport Road.
Furthermore, there are various industries, light industrial areas and residential areas within that development that will benefit from reduced travel times and improved access.
Furthermore, Delport Road is a key element of the Sunway City Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Given that road infrastructure is an enabler of economic development, we are confident that this will be a key catalyst that the special economic zone requires to attract and facilitate development into the SEZ.
Q: We understand works have also started along Simon Mazorodze Road. What exactly is being done under this project, what is the timeline for completing the works, and what traffic improvements are expected once the project is finished?
A: Simon Mazorodze Road is part of the works being done under the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road project.
So, Simon Mazorodze Road forms the urban section of the project in Harare.
We have roadworks, with approximately five kilometres left along Simon Mazorodze Road. We are also going to be upgrading the junctions at Remembrance Drive and Willowvale Road.
We also have the existing Simon Mazorodze flyover, which is going to be rehabilitated and reinstated.
The timeline we are looking at is such that, for the road component, we are targeting completion by the end of this year, 2026.
For the structures that I have mentioned, we are looking at early 2028.
By March 2028, these three structures will be completed. And what we want to achieve is, first and foremost, separation of traffic.
Separation of traffic is important because it reduces congestion. This is one of the key nodes that we identified where, due to the high volume of traffic, motorists spend more time than necessary at a particular junction, which is not good for business.
It is also unfavourable for the working public to spend three or four hours in traffic after work. So, one of the things that we want to solve is to reduce travel times and also improve safety. By separating traffic, we eliminate conflict points and ensure that we have a safer and more reliable road network within that area.
Q: What is the current status of the proposed Robert Mugabe International Airport Expressway? When is construction expected to start?
A: Works have already commenced on the Robert Mugabe International Airport Expressway. We have started off with the junction at Harare Drive and Airport Road, where we are clearing the ramps, and we have started work on the ramps to enable us to divert traffic and begin work on the main structures.
In addition, we have teams mobilising to start work at the Mukuvisi River, where the missing link commences, which will connect the expressway to the CBD. We also have teams mobilising to start work at George and St Patrick’s. So, this project as a whole includes nine junctions being upgraded to interchanges and is expected to be completed within the next three years.
You will see the interchanges being completed at different times. The project actually terminates at the junction with Glenara. So, you will also see the junction of Glenara and ED Mnangagwa Road being upgraded. There is also the junction of Churchill and ED Mnangagwa Road, where an interchange is going to be constructed. We have Samora Machel and ED Mnangagwa Road, where another interchange is going to be constructed.
The road is also going to be upgraded to increase its capacity to cater for the increased volume of traffic that we have seen in the city.
We also have other structures, as I mentioned, at the Mukuvisi River crossing, where we have a one-kilometre-long viaduct, which is essentially a very long bridge.
We also have an interchange along Robert Mugabe Road, and then at Dieppe, St Patrick’s, George and Harare Drive, which I mentioned, as well as the airport entrance. So, works are underway, starting at the first junction at Harare Drive, with the construction period for all the works I have mentioned being three years.
Q: How will it improve connectivity between the airport and central Harare?
A: This expressway, by virtue of being an expressway, will reduce the travel time between the CBD and the airport.
Currently, there is no direct access from the airport to the CBD and the rest of Harare.
So, we believe that by constructing this missing link, and in particular upgrading these various junctions to separate traffic, we are going to improve the flow of traffic and improve access.
Currently, to go to the airport, you have to pass through various neighbourhoods, and, of course, that comes with its own challenges in terms of road capacity and congestion.
So, we are confident that, by virtue of being constructed as an expressway, it is going to provide direct access to the airport.
Q: What is the latest position regarding the proposed Kuwadzana Roundabout interchange? What will the interchange look like? What traffic challenges is it designed to address? And when is construction expected to begin?
A: The Kuwadzana Roundabout works are part of the High Glen expressway upgrade, which is earmarked for 2027.
Currently, we are still working on the designs, after which we will be able to share with the public what the final product will look like.
But the solution that we expect to come out of this is the same as what we have already realised at Trabablas, which will be reduced travel times, reduced congestion and improved access, both for local traffic and transit traffic.
We realise that this is on a regional corridor; therefore, the road carries significant traffic, not just local traffic but also traffic transiting through Harare. So, these are the benefits that we expect to realise, and we are targeting that, once all the designs are in place, works will start during the course of 2027.
Q: Are there plans for additional interchanges at other major congestion points in Harare? If so, which locations have been prioritised?
A: Yes, we have other junctions or areas that we have identified and that are earmarked for upgrading.
We have already mentioned the High Glen expressway, which is still under development and in the design stage, and I have already mentioned the nine junctions along the route that are earmarked for upgrading.
We also have Westgate, which is another one along the Harare-Chirundu road, which is also going to be done.
As part of the Harare Drive existing sections upgrade and the missing links, we are also going to see quite a number of junctions being upgraded to interchanges, and these are works that we are targeting within the next three to five years.
Q: Finally, how are these individual projects being integrated into a single master plan for Harare’s road network, rather than being implemented as standalone projects?
A: As Government, we have taken a coordinated approach to upgrading the road network.
These are lessons learned from when we did the Trabablas project, where we were mainly focusing on the load, which is the Mbudzi Roundabout.
But emanating from that, we saw that the road network consists of a network of various junctions, feeder roads and main roads.
And so, the way we have designed our projects is such that a full corridor will receive an upgrade and separation of traffic.
It is not only targeted at one location, and a case in point is the Beira Corridor, where we have targeted the Mabvuku Junction, the Msasa Junction, the Delport Trumpet and Delport Road. We have also targeted the Harare Drive missing link, which will actually connect Harare Drive from the Msasa Junction, continuing all the way to the airport and then to Seke Road.
So, this is just an example of the coordinated, holistic approach that we are applying.
Similarly, as I explained about Simon Mazorodze Road, we are actually looking at the full stretch of the road. Not only that, but even the feeder roads are also being upgraded.
We have Willowvale Road also being upgraded because it is a feeder road into Simon Mazorodze. We have Harare Drive passing through the Southerton Police Station, which was actually upgraded and opened to traffic.
So, as Government, we are looking at this holistically and not just looking at a particular corridor, section or junction.
We are upgrading the network as a whole to ensure that motorists get maximum benefit from whatever infrastructure upgrades are undertaken by Government.
