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Blessings Chidakwa

Herald Reporter

A portion of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway will be temporarily closed today for an hour at the Ngundu section to allow blasting to pave way for its widening and reconstruction, reputable contractor Bitumen World announced.The temporary closure of the road comes as the rehabilitation of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway has already surpassed 400km, almost 70 percent of the 580km stretch.

In a statement yesterday, Bitumen World said it is working on the section of Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway from the 90km peg to the 106 km peg.

“To enable the works it is necessary to remove existing rock adjacent to the old road in the vicinity of km peg 101, approximately 6km south of Ngundu Village. This rock will be removed by blasting and the work is planned to commence on Wednesday March 29, 2023.

“For the safety of the motoring public it will be necessary to close the road to all traffic during the period of blasting, which may take up to one hour to allow time for clearing blast debris from the road after blasting has taken place,” reads the  statement.

Bitumen World added: “It is expected that the removal of rock at this location, as well as further rock to be blasted approximately 1km north of Ngundu, will take approximately four weeks to complete. Bitumen World sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused by the anticipated temporary road closures.”

Five local companies were contracted to undertake the upgrade of the highway: Tensor Systems, Masimba Holdings, Fossil Contracting, Exodus & Company, and Bitumen World.

The scope of the project involves dualisation, upgrading and tolling of the highway.

The entire north-south corridor has been divided into three sections: the 580km Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway together with eight toll plazas, the 342km Harare-Chirundu highway with six toll plazas, and the 59km Harare Ring Road with three toll plazas.

These tolls are what pay for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the highway.

While there are many infrastructure development projects across the country, the rehabilitation of the Harare-Beitbridge Highway and modernisation of the Beitbridge Border Post to bring in efficient systems aimed at reducing or eliminating delays, are the signature projects of President Mnangagwa’s administration.

The Beitbridge Border Post has already been commissioned by the President and users of arguably the busiest land border in the SADC region commended the speed with which they were being cleared, and the ease of clearance over the festive period.