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Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
THE Government and a Japanese company, Dai Nippon Construction have signed a contract for the firm to upgrade a 7,2km stretch along the Harare-Chirundu Road.
The 352-kilometre Harare-Chirundu Road links Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa with Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Last week, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development Permanent Secretary Engineer Joy Makumbe signed the contract on behalf of Government with officials from Dai Nippon Construction company.
“The scope of the project, which will start from the Wafa-Wafa area in Mashonaland West, involves adding a climbing lane, improving sharp curve spots, installing road drainage facilities and accessory structures to ensure road safety”, the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
This development comes after works on the Harare-Chirundu Highway resumed in August, with five local contractors rehabilitating the road.
Road works for the US$550 million Harare-Chirundu Highway project, whose scope includes partial dualisation and widening are scheduled to be completed in August next year.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the project was done in February this year, with the Government setting a time frame of 18 months for the roadworks to be completed.
The five contractors are Tensor Systems, Bitumen World, Masimba, Fossil and Exodus and Company. They were given 67km stretches each as the Government works towards fulfilling its pledge of upgrading the country’s road network.
In September, President Mnangagwa extended to December 31, 2026, the state of disaster of the country’s road infrastructure network following the initial declaration on February 23, 2021.
This was contained in Statutory Instrument 151 of 2024 cited as Civil Protection (Declaration of State of Disaster: Rural and Urban Areas of Zimbabwe) (Road Infrastructure Network) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 (No.1).
The declaration of a state of disaster in 2021 led to the launch of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2 which will now be extended as Government continues with the construction and rehabilitation of the country’s roads.
More than 50 000km of roads have been rehabilitated and reconstructed while 2 000 structures have been attended to since the start of the ERRP2.
Major roads slated for rehabilitation include the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway, Bulawayo-Nkayi Road and the Kwekwe-Lupane-Nkayi Road.
The Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway, a critical route for tourists and commercial transporters, has deteriorated significantly, turning the long drive into a nightmare for motorists.
Cabinet has since considered and adopted the proposed Public-Private Partnership between Government and Bitumen World for the immediate rebuilding of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road.
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