News / Local
Traffic volume increases in Beitbridge
08 Jan 2022 at 01:05hrs | Views
THE volume of commercial and non-commercial vehicles has gradually been increasing this week at the Beitbridge Border Post with many truckers and travellers trooping back to South Africa, where most companies will resume operations on Monday.
Many companies had their annual shutdown in December and will start operating as from January 10.
There were fewer than usual travellers using the border post in December.
On average 4 000 people crossed the border last month compared to the usual 30 000 who used the border daily before the outbreak of Covid-19.
Border officials said yesterday that they were clearing scores of commercial and non-commercial cargo as the festive season winds up.
"Our focus from New Year's Day is now on south-bound traffic and the situation is under control," said one official.
Zimborders Consortium's chief executive officer Mr Francois Diedrechsen said they were clearing an average of 700 trucks daily with the bulk heading to South Africa.
The consortium, together with the Government, are upgrading the port of entry at a cost of US$300 million on a 17 and half year build, operate and transfer arrangement.
"There is not much commercial traffic, numbers for commercial trucks are normal," he said.
"However, there is a large amount of non-commercial traffic, buses and cars, that are heading south after the holiday season, which does cause some general traffic congestion.
"This is being managed daily and it is expected that non-commercial traffic will return to more normal levels by the beginning of next week," added Mr Diedrechsen.
The situation at the border would greatly improve in the not-so-distant future with the completion of the construction of the buses and light motor vehicles terminals this year.
Mr Diedrechsen said the separation of traffic was critical in managing the traffic flow systems and so far, they had finished building the commercial freight terminal, which is already in use.
He said the current volume of vehicles was not out of the ordinary and a surge in traffic was normal every festive season.
Although he was not available for comment yesterday, the Assistant Regional Immigration Officer (ARIO) in-charge of Beitbridge Mr Nqobile Ncube recently said they had increased enforcement and compliance operations on the ground.
Many companies had their annual shutdown in December and will start operating as from January 10.
There were fewer than usual travellers using the border post in December.
On average 4 000 people crossed the border last month compared to the usual 30 000 who used the border daily before the outbreak of Covid-19.
Border officials said yesterday that they were clearing scores of commercial and non-commercial cargo as the festive season winds up.
"Our focus from New Year's Day is now on south-bound traffic and the situation is under control," said one official.
Zimborders Consortium's chief executive officer Mr Francois Diedrechsen said they were clearing an average of 700 trucks daily with the bulk heading to South Africa.
The consortium, together with the Government, are upgrading the port of entry at a cost of US$300 million on a 17 and half year build, operate and transfer arrangement.
"There is not much commercial traffic, numbers for commercial trucks are normal," he said.
"However, there is a large amount of non-commercial traffic, buses and cars, that are heading south after the holiday season, which does cause some general traffic congestion.
"This is being managed daily and it is expected that non-commercial traffic will return to more normal levels by the beginning of next week," added Mr Diedrechsen.
The situation at the border would greatly improve in the not-so-distant future with the completion of the construction of the buses and light motor vehicles terminals this year.
Mr Diedrechsen said the separation of traffic was critical in managing the traffic flow systems and so far, they had finished building the commercial freight terminal, which is already in use.
He said the current volume of vehicles was not out of the ordinary and a surge in traffic was normal every festive season.
Although he was not available for comment yesterday, the Assistant Regional Immigration Officer (ARIO) in-charge of Beitbridge Mr Nqobile Ncube recently said they had increased enforcement and compliance operations on the ground.
Source - The Chronicle
