Serious decisions have to be made toi revamp Zimbabwe’s railways as it is now the country’s biggest headache, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said today.
Writing in his weekly article in the Sunday Mail today, Mnanhgagwa said this service was vital and cheaper and should therefore get attention to reduce costs of doing business.
“I am particularly worried that this vital transport mode lags behind at a time when the demand for its services are rising, what with the phenomenal expansion we are witnessing in the mining sector. Serious decisions will have to be made to revamp that transport sub-sector, including finding innovative ways to finance its rehabilitation and expansion,” the President said.
Mnangagwa commissioned the Beitbridge Border Post on Wednesday and said there are plans to modernise the Plumtree, Forbes and Chirundu border posts.
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The launch last Wednesday of a modernised Beitbridge Border Post marked a high point in the Second Republic’s vision of overcoming limitations of geography to make Zimbabwe a land-linked Economy.
This goal behoved that we look at improving transport infrastructures, principally those to do with road, rail and air transport, so these talk to each other, and to systems in neighbouring countries.
A key component of that thrust involved addressing inefficiencies and bottlenecks at all our ports of entry, with the goal of facilitating movement of people, vehicles, goods and services between borders. The transformation of Beitbridge thus has to be seen in that broad, sub-regional context.
What makes Beitbridge’s upgrade especially significant is that it combines sub-regional, national and community objectives.
Zimbabwe’s vision is that of becoming SADC’s transport hub.
Her geography favours her to play such a role. Sitting at the heart of the North-South Trade Corridor, Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge Border Post ranks as the busiest on the African continent. It thus needed commensurate infrastructure to live up to that coveted status. The facility I launched last Wednesday provides just such infrastructure, and generates enormous national pride for all of us.
Nationally, Matabeleland South Province enjoys two major border posts: Beitbridge and Plumtree.
These are very important to our economy. That makes the province quite unique on that score. As a provincial economy, Matabeleland South Province is also growing rapidly, underpinned by mining and specialised agriculture.
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