Govt invites PPPs for major road upgrades
THE Government is inviting willing and capable investors to partner it in the rehabilitation of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and the Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane roads into state-of-the-art highways to improve efficiency in the movement of goods and services.
Construction of world-class roads and other infrastructure is in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) key priorities and is critical to the attainment of Vision 2030 of an empowered upper middle-income economy.
The Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway provides a corridor that connects South Africa and Zambia through Beitbridge — Sadc’s busiest inland port of entry and the prime tourism resort destination, Victoria Falls.
The Government had initially engaged a South African firm Khato Civils for the rehabilitation of the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway in a build, operate and transfer (BOT) arrangement in 2019 and the company then roped in Zimre Holdings through its subsidiaries, and South Zambezi in a joint venture.
The deal fell off as the company delayed its processes.
A traffic study was supposed to be done on the road although the Sunday News could not readily confirm the current position.
The state of Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane Road, better known as Fighting Road has been a cause for concern for many years despite the road being touted as a better option for connecting Harare and Victoria Falls as it would reduce the distance by over 200km.
Speaking at the just ended Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) here, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the Government was keen on getting investors for a public-privatepartnership for the rehabilitation of the roads and other projects.
Besides upgrading roads, the Second Republic has embarked on many other infrastructural projects aimed at stimulating the economy in line with the drive to attain an upper middle-income society.
“We have many projects, as the road from Beitbridge to Bulawayo and Victoria Falls needs upgrading. Are there any takers? I am very serious,” said Prof Ncube in his closing remarks to delegates that attended the inaugural conference.
In a follow up interview, he said the two roads have the potential to transform the economy if upgraded as they could generate revenue through improved traffic.
“We are just saying to investors, we have all these opportunities. Government cannot finance everything, we need investors as partners so my talking about these two projects is real, we want to hear from investors out there on who is keen to do these projects.
“Some of these projects will generate their own traffic. For instance if we improve the Kwekwe
Nkayi-Lupane Road it will generate its own traffic once it is built into a tarred road and before you know it, it will become a viable road and investors could quickly recoup their money from the toll fees that they will be charging,” said Prof Ncube.
He said as Finance Minister his role was to invite investors but all due processes will be done by responsible line ministries, particularly the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development in partnership with the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida).
He said there are no designs yet as this will be worked on through the potential PPPs.
“These are serious invitations to the private sector, let’s hear what they say and what they like to offer us and there are many other projects on offer.
“Typically, in PPPs the investor is the one who comes up with the idea and proposals to say this is what I would like to do, cost and kind of toll fees to be charged then we weigh if those are too high or too low.
“We then evaluate because it’s a competitive situation but of course there are processes and these have to be done through the partnership between ZIDA and Ministry of Transport. For me as Minister of Finance I am just throwing this out there to say there is an opportunity let’s see if you are keen on going after it,” he said.
There have been concerns about the state of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road particularly from the tourism sector whose self-drive tourists use the road from South Africa. Motorists have called the Government to redo the road.
The Second Republic adopted a deliberate policy to use local resources and contractors using the philosophy “nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo,” where infrastructure particularly roads are being upgraded and rehabilitated under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme 2.
Remarkable work has been done in upgrading the Harare-Beitbridge highway by local companies. — @ncubeleon