NATHAN GUMA
TRAVELLING from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, to the resort town of Victoria Falls, several road construction sites come into view.
From detours to newly completed asphalt sections, eight local contractors are working to rehabilitate the highway, a major economic route for mining companies and the tourism sector.
The road also serves as a crucial link connecting Zimbabwe with Zambia and Botswana through the Victoria Falls and Kazungula border posts.
The contractors include Fossil Contractors, working on Lot 1 in the Bernice area, and Masimba Contracting, which is working on Lot 2 in the Insuza area.
Syvern Contracting, the first to release the first five kilometres of finished road, has been working on Lot 3, also in the Insuza area, while Bitumen Resources and Tensor have been working on Lots 4 and 5 of the Jotsholo section.
Bitumen World and Linash Construction have been working on Lot 7 of the Hwange section and Lot 8 in the area close to the Victoria Falls Airport.
In a media tour organised by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara), contractors said work is going on well, despite geographical challenges.
This has seen contractors navigating the Kalahari sands, notorious for retaining moisture, which is not ideal for road construction, among other setbacks.
However, they have been working to improve driving conditions along the route.
Masimba Contracting projects manager Blessing Nhau said they have started by patching potholes, which have been a menace on the busy road.
“In terms of our approach, we wanted to deal with potholes. It was becoming unsafe. So, before we started, we said we should first patch potholes and make the road smooth. This is because we had a number of accidents of cars that were breaking down along the road,” Eng Nhau says.
However, he says that while work has been going smoothly, rains have been a menace.
“We are standing on a section of the 5km that has been stabilised. This section was done three weeks ago. This section was supposed to have been open to traffic, had we not had challenges with the rain,” he says.
“Before we close, we have targeted to close almost 10 kilometres. As soon as we close the first five, the priming and everything, we are going to do another five.”
“For the challenges, we have been facing challenges because we are working over Kalahari sands. They take longer to dry, leaving us to battle with moisture.”
Work has been going smoothly for another contractor, Syvern, becoming the first to open the first 5km of finished road from their 51km section.
“For Syvern, we are starting from kilometre 99+600 up to 151+600, that is 50 kilometres. We started in June, and we have completed 5km that is already open to traffic,” says Eng Arnold Mtungwazi from Syvern.
He says they have another section that is also ready for cement stabilisation, which is 9km after the first 5km.
“We expect the project to be done by August next year, all things being equal in terms of funding and resources. In terms of the CSR. In terms of challenges, we are facing challenges with water. However, we are now drilling boreholes which we are leaving for the people to use after the project.”
The Ministry of Transport has also entered a public-private partnership with Road Tracker Construction on the Lupane-Nkayi-Kwekwe Road, a 240km project which is expected to reduce the distance from Harare to Victoria Falls by at least 170km.
The road, which is comprised of earth road and dilapidated tar, is being given a strong asphalt finish.
“On the scope of the road, we have two stages. We have portions that are on earth road, then the remainder which is tarred. We are starting with the other on the earth road. On the scope, we are putting three bases, and we are doing road-bed and sub-grade. After that, we then dump base two, base three and base one,” said a lead engineer from Road Tracker Construction.
“Base 3 is natural gravel that we are importing from the local area. Base 2 is natural gravel, which will be stabilised by basic cement. Then Base 1 is G1. That is the scope.”
“We have the remainder of the road which is tarred, that is the 7km on the Lupane side. Then starting from Nkayi, going to Kwekwe, then to Silobela. Then we have a section of road, I think, which is earth road again — which is Tiger Reef and other areas. The scope on the tarred road, we are going to rip everything that is there, stabilise with cement and dump G1.”
At Cross-Jotsholo, Bitumen Resources has already opened 5km of road to traffic and is working on opening another 5.4 kilometres.
They said this will also help improve mobility during the festive season and beyond.
Tensor Contracting said it will also open 5km before the Christmas holidays.
Asphalt Products has been working on widening the road width at Cross Dete from seven to nine metres throughout the 51km stretch on which they are working.
“We are increasing the width from seven to nine, and then put another stabilised layer of 150mm,” said Eng Panganai Mataure, Asphalt contracts manager. “So for now, we have cleared the road width. We are hoping to have our 16km section ready by February.”
Another contractor, Bitumen World, working on the Hwange section, has already opened 3.6 kilometres to traffic to improve mobility.
“We were given 32km. We mobilised for the project in October, but now we have opened 3.6km. We are working on opening another 7km. The scope is the same. We dump a hundred, we put cement, we mill to produce a C3 base,” said Leroy Msindo from Bitumen World.
“On the challenges, we are okay, but the rains are fighting us. We love the rains, but sometimes, they interfere with our work.
Next year, August, our work should be done. If you look at it, it looks like a rock. It’s stabilised with cement. The content was 2%. With that composite, you achieve a C3 base.”
Ministry of Transport permanent secretary Engineer Joy Makumbe said that while there have been complaints over cost discrepancies on construction projects, these have mainly been due to operational costs, which include proximity to water sources, gradient and soil texture.
“If you see the level of dumping, it’s work, especially if you would like to do quality work. They have to do excavations to get to stable ground. There are a lot of processes that go on. So, please, give us time so that we connect Zimbabwe kilometre by kilometre, so that we can connect the country kilometre by kilometre with world-class roads.
“We are working with local contractors. We are capacitating our people and engineers. They end up having dumpers, graders and tippers, all the equipment that we need for road construction.”
As each new section opens to traffic, the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road is steadily transforming into a safer, smoother corridor that will be crucial for activity.
