Zim’s first toll plaza opens December

Association Sadc focal group conference in Victoria Falls.
“Progress at our first state-of-the-art toll plaza is at an advanced stage and we expect to open it by December this year,” Eng Juma said in his presenta­tion of the Zimbabwe country report.
He said the computerised toll plaza was being constructed at the 17 kilo­metre peg just outside Bulawayo under the US$206,6 million project to widen, upgrade and dualise the Plumtree-Mutare highway.
The highway is 820 kilometres and is being rehabilitated and upgraded to international standards by Zinara and its partner Group Five, a South African based company.
Eng Juma said the highway would be widened from seven metres to 10 metres, install thermoplastics, a long life road marking material on the highway.
Such markings are used in South Africa, USA and United Kingdom on carriage ways as a safety measure.
Eng Juma said the project was pro­gressing well and expected to be com­pleted in two-and-a-half years.
“So far we have covered 90 kilome­tres and we are doing refills and reconstruc­tion of the highway,” he said.
Zinara, Eng Juma said would install a total of 25 state-of-the-art toll plazas, which look like those found along high­ways in neighbouring South Africa.
Zinara tolling manager, Mr Ostern Chimedza, also said his organisation was working on taking over toll collec­tion from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority.
“We are working with them (Zimra) to facilitate the takeover and we are doing our ground work at the moment where we are structuring the depart­ment.
“We have identified our needs and everything that we need in prepa­ration for the takeover,” Mr Chimedza said.
Meanwhile, work for the actual upgrading of the highway such as pot­hole patching, crack sealing and level­ling of depressions is already under way from Shangani to Bulawayo.
During a visit to some of the sites on Tuesday, workers were busy with the state-of-the-art equipment that includes a recycler and chip spread­ers.
The recycler is the first of its kind in Zimbabwe and has the capacity to rip off the old tarmac and reconstruct it on the same day and motorists can use the new road the following day.
The resurfacing and dualisation of Plumtree-Mutare highway started in March this year and once completed the new road will become the first modern highway in Zimbabwe con­forming to the Sadc protocols. The highway will have nine world-class toll plazas to recoup money used during construc­tion. The Infralink Project being bankrolled by the Devel­opment Bank of Southern Africa is the largest mone­tary investment into a single infrastruc­tural development in the past 12 years.