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Leonard Ncube
Victoria Falls Reporter
With the new Zambezi bridge and the upgrade in road links to Kazungula in Zimbabwe, Botswana Namibia and Zambia, rapid progress is being made on upgrading the border post to cope with the expected increase in tourists as Covid-19 recedes and the extra commercial traffic.

Kazungula has been seen as a minor post, but now rapid development is in progress with staff houses for the border post springing up.

Kazungula border post is about 70km from Victoria Falls City and Government workers stationed there have over the years been commuting daily to and from work. The upgraded post requires resident staff. So houses are being build at the present Kazungula Police Camp.

Four detached houses, each to accommodate four Zimra workers are almost complete and similar houses for immigration staff are now at foundation level. Construction started in 2019 and will lead to more staff being deployed to the border post.

When journalists visited the border yesterday, workmen from the Department of Public Works were working to complete the houses. Already they are almost finished and each now has been roofed, ceiling fitted and tubing for electricity completed.

Each house has four compartments and will house a single employee and his or her family. Frames to support solar panels have been mounted on the roofs.

Similar structures for the Department of Immigration are at foundation level and workers were busy ramming the floors before actual construction can take place.

This is one of the many projects being implemented by Government under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and envisioned to lead the nation towards an upper middle income economy by 2030.

It will also see the 3km from the border to the police camp being fixed up.

The border also needs upgrading ,with construction of more infrastructure such waiting sheds, car park and improvement on signage which has been destroyed by haulage trucks on the Zimbabwean side of the border.

Water shortages are being tackled by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority. The Zambezi River is very close to the border post, so both surface and underground supplies will be available.

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Richard Moyo, who visited the project recently said there is significant progress. He was accompanied by  a team from the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring, Implementation of Government Programmes that had been moving around the province assessing progress and documenting all projects being implemented by the Second Republic.

“We moved around the province with a team that is documenting projects being undertaken by the Second Republic through devolution and under the 100-Day Cycle to assess progress.

“We are confident they, together with most projects in the province, will be completed and opened this year. “

“This is the first of its kind to have such developments in the province and we want to the thank President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic for the way Matabeleland North has been prioritised,” said Minister Moyo.

Kazungula border is strategically positioned as an entry point to the region, especially as it is near the US$260 million Kazungula Bridge which links Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to improve trade and commerce through interlinking countries that faced difficulties because of infrastructural bottlenecks.

It is key to Africa Agenda 2063 and Sadc Regional Development Masterplan Vision 2027 which envisions well maintained and operated infrastructure that promotes seamless services in the region.

Its upgrading, along with other projects throughout the country, reflects Government’s resolve to modernise infrastructure towards the achievement of a middle-income economy by 2030.

Regional Immigration officer for North-West Region, Mr Vincent Mukombero, said the port is one of the busiest in the country, handling about 33 000 travellers a month before the outbreak of Covid-19.

During lockdown, the border has been handling slightly above 2 000 travellers.

Victoria Falls border handled over 40 000 travellers per month before the outbreak of Covid-19.