eBusiness Weekly
HARARE – The Japanese government on Tuesday gave Zimbabwe a $21 million grant for the upgrade and rehabilitation of a 6.5 kilometre stretch of the Makuti-Chirundu highway.
The stretch of the road, is the most dangerous with high accidents, and is dubbed “Hellsgate” or “Wafa-Wafa.”
The project, to run between 2019 and 2021, will be implemented by the Department of Roads under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, supervised by Japanese highway engineers.
Through this project, climbing lanes will be constructed on the steep part of the road, alignment of lanes will be improved and sharp bends addressed, which is expected to contribute to smooth, safe traffic flow and reduction of accidents by over 80 percent.
Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, Japanese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Toshiyuki Iwado and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency’s representative, Tomohiro Seki signed the agreement for the project.
Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister, Joram Gumbo said the highway was a critical link between Zimbabwe and countries such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The road also serves other various economic, social and tourist destinations along the route and gives access to Mana Pools national park,” he said.
He said constructing a dual carriage way for that section of the road would not only require a far more expensive re-design of the road but was “undesirable in a conservation area” which is why government had proposed to have a widened two lane, single carriage way and a third climbing passing lane.
Chinamasa lauded the Japanese government’s intervention which he said will improve domestic and international transport links for the country that are critical in supporting economic growth and job creation.
“This section (of the highway) was identified to be a hazardous area, where a number of accidents had been occurring due to the sharp curves and steep slopes along this section of the highway,” he said.
“The project will also go a long way in improving ease of doing business in that traffic will flow smoothly thereby reducing the time spent on the road for transit trucks and trucks delivering products to and from the country.”
Japan has previously financed the construction of the Chirundu bridge and supported establishment of a one stop border post at the Chirundu border post.
Ambassador Iwado said the Japanese and Zimbabwean governments recognised the importance of improving the road as a means to aid sustainable economic growth and stability.
“Improvement of this corridor will allow Zimbabwe to strengthen ties with the international community and friendly neighbours in particular,” he said.
“It will strengthen the connectivity of the people and the connectivity to the economy.”
He said the project will create jobs for around 250 people and also benefit the country through skills transfer. – New Ziana
