Lawsuit stops dualisation of Beitbridge-Harare road

The government had secured a financier for the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare Road, the busiest road in the country, but the project was stalled after a local consortium Zim Highway Consortium took the State Procurement Board and the Ministry of Transport to court, the Deputy Minister of Transport Petronella Kagonye told the Senate this week.

She said rehabilitation of the road was estimated to cost US$1.3 billion.

She did not say why the State Procurement Board and the ministry were taken to court.

Kagonye said the road had outlived its design life twice over as it was designed to last 20 years but had been in use for 55 years.

She also said the government had done a feasibility study on dualising the Harare-Chirundu Road and it was estimated to cost US$883 million.

Q & A:

DUALISATION OF THE QUEST-BEITBRIDGE-HARARE-CHIRUNDU ROAD

6. SENATOR MOHADI asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the Senate when the Ministry would consider the dualisation of the Quest-Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu road in view of the high incidents rate of fatal accidents along the road.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (MS. KAGONYE): Thank you Madam President. Thank you Hon. Senator Mohadi for your question. The road from Beitbridge through Masvingo and Harare to Chirundu is the busiest route in the country. The route has also outlived two design lives, meaning it has been in use for about 55 years after being designed and constructed to be in use for only 20 years. The condition of the entire route is now very poor. My Ministry has therefore, started the process of rehabilitating and dualising the route, starting from Harare to Manyame Bridge and also on the worst failed sections along the route.

With regards to Harare- Beitbridge Highway, a feasibility study for the road was completed in June 2013 in preparation for the rehabilitation and dualisation of the road. The study has indicated that the road is due for rehabilitation with the whole route undergoing dualisation. The cost for implementing the ultimate option on the Harare-Beitbridge road is US$1.3 billion.

In 2013, Government had secured a project financier for the project with very favourable terms. However, the deal could not be sealed as a local consortium called Zim Highways Consortium (Private) Limited then took both the State Procurement Board and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development to court. The issue is still with the courts and for that reason, we cannot commence the works until the matter is resolved.

The feasibility of dualising the Harare-Chirundu road was also ascertained through a study completed in October 2011. The cost of the implementation of the ultimate option dualisation of the whole route for the Harare-Chirundu road is US$883 million. My Ministry is in the process of identifying investors in order to implement a Bill Operate and Transfer Project for the Harare-Chirundu road. Thank you.

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