News / National
Zimbabwe secures $147m for Harare - Bulawayo dualisation
14 Apr 2013 at 02:44hrs | Views
Government has secured the critical US$147 million funding for the dualisation of the Harare-Bulawayo highway, while it is also evaluating expressions of interest from companies that intend to work on the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway, it has been learnt.
The country is gradually transforming its highways into a world-class road infrastructure network.
Speaking in an interview with The Sunday Mail Business last week, Minister of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Mr Nicholas Goche indicated that the US$147 million purse that is set to be provided by Group Five International will be availed once the South African company is reimbursed the Value Added Tax that it paid for the capital equipment imported for the current road rehabilitation and construction works.
Group Five International is one of the joint venture partners in Infralink, a special purpose vehicle created with statutory body Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration).
Infralink is presently working on the Plumtree-Harare-Mutare highway, a project that has since been accorded national project status, which essentially means the joint venture partners are exempted from paying VAT on the imported equipment.
According to Mr Goche, the dualisation of the Harare to Bulawayo highway will be done in phases, with the Harare to Norton stretch having been completed.
The next phase will involve the dualisation of the Norton to Kadoma stretch, the Kadoma to Gweru road and then finally the Gweru to Bulawayo road.
It has also since been established that Government will also be officially opening the newly constructed Manyame bridge this week, marking the completion and use of the dualised road.
"This project already has money - about $147 million - set aside for it. There is only one precondition that we need to meet, and that precondition involves the VAT (Value Added Tax) issue between Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) and Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration) and once that issue is resolved, the works will begin," said Minister Goche.
Policymakers and economists are agreed that because of Zimbabwe's centrality in the Sadc (Southern African Development Community) region, it is suitably positioned as the transportation hub for the region as it provides the thoroughfare for the continent to Africa's biggest economy, South Africa, while at the same time linking South Africa to the region and beyond.
Government has also committed to building new border infrastructure at both Plumtree and Forbes Border Post in Mutare, a development that is likely to help improve the ease of trade in the region and also revenue generation.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) last year said there was a lot of business lost at the country's border posts, especially at Beitbridge, due to delays and congestion
"The delays, high congestion and inefficient service delivery experienced on the Beitbridge border are very costly in terms of waiting time and transaction costs ranging between US$29,3 million and US$35 million a year. The costs are limiting the prospects for intra-regional trade expansion," said AfDB at last year's chapter of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
Market watchers note that "long distances from markets, the heavy reliance on the seaports of South Africa and Mozambique for exports together with the bottlenecks at the border posts, significantly constrain Zimbabwe's trade, reduce its competitiveness both within the region and globally, and hamper its socio-economic advancement".
However, Government contends that by 2020 significant work will have been completed on the country's major highways.
For example, the feasibility study on the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway has been completed and it has since been established that about $790 million is required to rehabilitate the road, particularly the Harare to Beitbridge stretch.
Work will begin once the technical details have been thrashed out.
Although ZimHighways, a consortium of local construction-related companies, was vying for the right to rehabilitate the road, its tender was cancelled by the State Procurement Board.
Added Mr Goche: "The feasibility study for the North-South Corridor is now complete. We know what will be the cost of that road from Harare to Beitbridge, and we have a number of companies that have expressed interest to join us in a PPP (Public Private Partnership) and we are evaluating those interests.
"It (the take-off of the project) depends on how quick we finalise discussions, for example, the evaluation by our technical team, financial team and so forth, especially the evaluation of all those expressions of interest by the companies that would have expressed interest to do the work. Once the evaluation is completed they will make their recommendations and I will take it up with my superiors."
Already, a US40 million cash outlay has been availed by the tripartite of regional blocs - Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), Sadc (Southern Africa Development Community) and the EAC (East African Community) - to work on the road from Makuti to Chirundu, signalling significant progress on the road works.
While there has been a lot of progress on the local highways, most city roads, which fall under the ambit of various local government constituencies, have remained in appalling state.
The country is gradually transforming its highways into a world-class road infrastructure network.
Speaking in an interview with The Sunday Mail Business last week, Minister of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development Mr Nicholas Goche indicated that the US$147 million purse that is set to be provided by Group Five International will be availed once the South African company is reimbursed the Value Added Tax that it paid for the capital equipment imported for the current road rehabilitation and construction works.
Group Five International is one of the joint venture partners in Infralink, a special purpose vehicle created with statutory body Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration).
Infralink is presently working on the Plumtree-Harare-Mutare highway, a project that has since been accorded national project status, which essentially means the joint venture partners are exempted from paying VAT on the imported equipment.
According to Mr Goche, the dualisation of the Harare to Bulawayo highway will be done in phases, with the Harare to Norton stretch having been completed.
The next phase will involve the dualisation of the Norton to Kadoma stretch, the Kadoma to Gweru road and then finally the Gweru to Bulawayo road.
It has also since been established that Government will also be officially opening the newly constructed Manyame bridge this week, marking the completion and use of the dualised road.
"This project already has money - about $147 million - set aside for it. There is only one precondition that we need to meet, and that precondition involves the VAT (Value Added Tax) issue between Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) and Zinara (Zimbabwe National Road Administration) and once that issue is resolved, the works will begin," said Minister Goche.
Policymakers and economists are agreed that because of Zimbabwe's centrality in the Sadc (Southern African Development Community) region, it is suitably positioned as the transportation hub for the region as it provides the thoroughfare for the continent to Africa's biggest economy, South Africa, while at the same time linking South Africa to the region and beyond.
Government has also committed to building new border infrastructure at both Plumtree and Forbes Border Post in Mutare, a development that is likely to help improve the ease of trade in the region and also revenue generation.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) last year said there was a lot of business lost at the country's border posts, especially at Beitbridge, due to delays and congestion
"The delays, high congestion and inefficient service delivery experienced on the Beitbridge border are very costly in terms of waiting time and transaction costs ranging between US$29,3 million and US$35 million a year. The costs are limiting the prospects for intra-regional trade expansion," said AfDB at last year's chapter of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
Market watchers note that "long distances from markets, the heavy reliance on the seaports of South Africa and Mozambique for exports together with the bottlenecks at the border posts, significantly constrain Zimbabwe's trade, reduce its competitiveness both within the region and globally, and hamper its socio-economic advancement".
However, Government contends that by 2020 significant work will have been completed on the country's major highways.
For example, the feasibility study on the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway has been completed and it has since been established that about $790 million is required to rehabilitate the road, particularly the Harare to Beitbridge stretch.
Work will begin once the technical details have been thrashed out.
Although ZimHighways, a consortium of local construction-related companies, was vying for the right to rehabilitate the road, its tender was cancelled by the State Procurement Board.
Added Mr Goche: "The feasibility study for the North-South Corridor is now complete. We know what will be the cost of that road from Harare to Beitbridge, and we have a number of companies that have expressed interest to join us in a PPP (Public Private Partnership) and we are evaluating those interests.
"It (the take-off of the project) depends on how quick we finalise discussions, for example, the evaluation by our technical team, financial team and so forth, especially the evaluation of all those expressions of interest by the companies that would have expressed interest to do the work. Once the evaluation is completed they will make their recommendations and I will take it up with my superiors."
Already, a US40 million cash outlay has been availed by the tripartite of regional blocs - Comesa (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa), Sadc (Southern Africa Development Community) and the EAC (East African Community) - to work on the road from Makuti to Chirundu, signalling significant progress on the road works.
While there has been a lot of progress on the local highways, most city roads, which fall under the ambit of various local government constituencies, have remained in appalling state.
Source - SM
