City council mulls Christmas Pass bypass

MUTARE City Council is seeking partners to fund the construction of a bypass road at the foot of the Christmas Pass to reduce the number of heavy vehicles that pass through the central business district en-route to and from Forbes Border Post.

The city has over the past years, recorded an increase in traffic, especially heavy cross border vehicles, owing to its proximity to the port of Beira.

Mutare is about 280km from Beira, making it the shortest route to the sea for most exporters and importers in Southern Africa.

Mutare City Council chief planner Mr Richard Simbi recently said the increase in traffic had necessitated the move to create a bypass road that follows the railway line.

“We are planning to have a bypass road at the Christmas pass because that is where we have recorded a lot of accidents, particularly heavy goods vehicles, so that is where we will have the bypass. That project will divert the heavy goods vehicles from passing through the city so it will be following the rail line,” he said.

He said the city had approached the Ministry of Transport, which had given them the go ahead should they find an interested investor for the project.

“For the city, that is a very important road. Our border post is just 6km from here so what has been happening is that most SADC countries now prefer to receive goods via the port of Beira, making our city one of the busiest. We are also expecting a lot of business from companies that want to set up base in Mutare,” said Mr Simbi.

He said the city had been approached by some tobacco companies that have expressed interest in conducting tobacco auctions from Mutare, which is considerably closer to their export markets.

“Products from overseas are now coming through the port of Beira, we are expecting a lot of traffic and business. We have been talking to some companies that want to do tobacco auctioning in the city so that they immediately take the tobacco to the port for export. We are having a lot of inquiries so having that bypass is very important,” he added.