'Locals can dualise Beitbridge-Masvingo-Chirundu highway'

Government says local engineers and technocrats in the diaspora have the capacity to kick start the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Masvingo-Chirundu highway if they take heed of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's call to form joint ventures and work with the new dispensation.

The Beitbridge-Masvingo-Chirundu highway is the gateway corridor to the SADC region providing trade-links for Zimbabwe to many countries like South Africa, Zambia and DRC, but of major concern is the rate at which hundreds of people are perishing due to accidents as a result of the deplorable state of the highway.

The highway has for many years attracted different investors who were awarded tenders to dualise but to no avail.

The million dollar question is if the international investors have failed to construct the highway, can the local engineers or technocrats in the diaspora some who have demonstrated their capacity on other projects in other countries do it if given government support?

"Our local engineers and like what the appealed to technocrats in the diaspora to come back home, we have capacity to do it, the Masvingo road can kick start with own engineers using our local resources and when we require imports then we can always rope them in, our engineers can come up with a structure then we as policy makers can implement," laments Transport and Infrastructural Development deputy minister Cde Fortune Chasi.

President Mnangagwa on the sidelines of the just ended UN General Assembly in New York, appealed to the Zim-diasporians human capital to come and grab opportunities created by the new dispensation in various sectors of economy.

While the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Masvingo highway requires billions of dollars in forex, with local engineers using the bulk of local raw materials the country can save a lot of foreign currency if government adopts these home grown solutions to kick start the long awaited dualisation of this important highway.