Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
THE Zanu-PF economic development cluster has lauded President Mnangagwa for leading the drive to transform the Beitbridge Border Post, which has become one of the major high-impact projects under the Second Republic.
Government in partnership with the ZimBorders Consortium has successfully completed the transformative US$300-million-dollar project under a 17-and-a-half-year Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession.
The port of entry connects Zimbabwe, South Africa and the rest of SADC countries north of the Zambezi River and in previous years it had become the weak link in trade facilitation prompting the Government to take action.
As the chaos heightened at this port of entry many travellers and transporters started avoiding Beitbridge, opting to use air transport or transiting via Botswana or Mozambique.
As a result, Zimbabwe started losing revenue in user fees for those transporters transiting through its borders to Zambia, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi and the DRC.
In 2018, the New Dispensation led by President Mnangagwa undertook to transform the port of entry to address a number of challenges most of which have in the last three years been eliminated.
Under the concession, the consortium provided funding, and the Government offered land and technical services.
In addition, ZimBorders Consortium is managing the port of entry and maintaining it for the duration of the concession and is retaining its invested money from border use fees.
The ruling party’s Politburo members, Retired Lieutenant- General Engelbert Rugeje (Secretary for Economic Affairs), Cde Elifasi Mashaba (Secretary for Business Development) and directors, Cde Annastancia Ndlovu (Economic Affairs), Cde Collen Mharadzano (Business Development) and Cde Francis Hungwe (Economic Development and Empowerment), recently visited the port of entry to familiarise with operations.
Speaking during the tour, Cde Mashaba said the new state-of-the-art Beitbridge Border Post promises to revolutionise trade and travel between Zimbabwe and her neighbours and the international community.
He said the facility had cutting-edge technology, expanded capacity, and enhanced security features.
“We want to thank our President, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for his vision and leadership, which has resulted in the successful transformation of the Beitbridge Border Post into a world-class facility,” said Cde Mashaba.
“The New Dispensation through a robust private-public partnership with the ZimBorders Consortium has turned a new leaf at Beitbridge.
“The re-organisation of the border has resulted in improved revenue generation and collection, enhanced trade facilitation, effective traffic control with the use of ICT. In fact, this milestone project has become a pacesetter in the region in terms of driving infrastructure development initiatives.”
Cde Mashaba said the border had played host to many governments and Heads of State in the region, among them South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Cde Mashaba said there was also a need for border agencies to have a new paradigm shift in the work ethic for the country to fully reap the fruits of the modernisation initiative.
He said the human element attitude will contribute towards the wholesome transformation of service delivery at the border.
The advent of the Second Republic ushered in a new vision for Zimbabwe to become a Prosperous and Empowered Upper Middle-Income Society/Economy earlier than 2030, said Lt Gen (Rtd) Rugeje.
“As such, the Zanu-PF Government has religiously adopted the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1 2021-2025), a development plan that embraces political, economic and social spheres towards sustainable development, ‘leaving no one and no place behind’.
“The resilience of the economy is also a clear testimony of the visionary and astute leadership of President Mnangagwa. His administration continues to come up with potent economic policies, and interventions that continue to change the fortunes of the economy amid adversity.”
The Beitbridge transformation project was carried out in three phases to ensure that civil works were carried out without disrupting the operations at the port of entry.
These include a freight terminal, roads and upgrading of ICT facilities (Phase 1), bus terminal (Phase 2), and the light vehicles terminal and out-of-port works (Phase 3).
Other facilities include the port health centre, state warehouses, weigh-bridges, animal shed, adequate office accommodation, separation of traffic, automated boom gates, fast cargo mobile scanners, baggage scanners, biometric access, 500 CCTVs, FRS (Facial Recognition System), PA System, ZimBorders traffic flow system and signage and call outboards on traffic movement.
Government has already introduced the Zimbabwe electronic Single Window (ZeSW) facility that merges all border agencies under one online platform for processes and payments to improve turnaround time.
Online Reporter