Government last week announced that it will complete the upgrading of Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway in the next 18 months.
In an interview with NewsDay in Kariba on the sidelines of the office of the Attorney-General strategic planning review workshop, Mashonaland West provincial Affairs minister Marian Chombo said the construction of Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway was critical hence the need to accelerate the project.
“As you may be aware, Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway connects Zimbabwe and the rest of southern Africa hence it is important that we make sure it is completed on time. Kariba is also a tourist destination and due to the state in which the road was, tourism was affected immensely,” Chombo said.
Chirundu-Beitbridge Road is a Trans-African Highway and a link between South Africa and Zambia. It is part of the North-South Corridor Project and forms the entire Zimbabwean section of the Cape to Cairo Highway.
The local road corridor has two legs – the Chirundu-Harare and the Harare-Beitbridge highways.
The road has been divided into sections described as “links” and the rehabilitation of the highway is being carried out in various “links” which will eventually see the whole route done. The links are numbered from north to south; from Chirundu border with Zambia to Beitbridge border with South Africa.
