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President Mugabe

WE join the nation in celebrating the commissioning of $1,3 billion worth of mega-projects by President Mugabe on Thursday which have a potential to transform the domestic and regional economy. The $250 million Tokwe-Mukosi Dam in Chivi and the $1 billion dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare Highway — the economic corridor into southern Africa — are a milestone achievement and a major shot in the arm for the Government’s much vaunted economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset).

There are positive economic benefits that the country will derive from the launch of the two projects which range from increased business for the construction sector, the curbing of road carnage as well as thousands of jobs that will be created by Tokwe-Mukosi dam which is poised to be the largest inland water source.

It has been a long road to the launch and commissioning of the two projects with the dualisation exercise having been in the pipeline for six years while Zimbabweans endured a long wait of over 18 years for Tokwe-Mukosi dam to be completed.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the dualisation of the $984 million Beitbridge-Harare Highway, just a stone’s throw from the site of the horrific bus inferno that claimed over 30 lives just before Easter, is bound to not only reduce road carnage but also boost the region’s economic fortunes by expediting overland freight.

The commissioning of the 1,8 billion cubic metre Tokwe Mukosi Dam, the largest inland dam in southern Africa, is expected to not only transform the semi-arid province into a green belt but will also significantly feed into the tourism and processing and manufacturing industries courtesy of the hydro-power station set to be installed on the left bank and which is expected to feed 15 megawatts into the national grid.

The mega-dam, which took 18 years to complete and is 70 percent full, is expected to supply water to irrigate over 25 000 hectares, leading to the creation of thousands of jobs.

We hail the launch and commissioning of the two projects and hope that work will begin soon on the dualisation exercise so that it is completed on time and the nation benefits. The Harare-Beitbridge highway is a death trap as evidenced by the number of horrific accidents mainly due to its poor and narrow state. It has aged faster than other roads because of the sheer volume of traffic both north and south-bound and this has contributed to the carnage.

Zimbabwe’s infrastructure has deteriorated over the years but Government has been unable to refurbish it due to a combination of lack of resources and debilitating economic sanctions which have militated against access to fresh lines of credit. We are glad that the Government has, against all odds, managed to secure funding for the dualisation project and we expect the contractor to do a good job.

We are also encouraged by Government’s commitment to the indigenisation drive where it has decreed that 40 percent of the work on the dualisation project be subcontracted to local companies. We don’t expect them to do shoddy work as this might compromise the project.

President Mugabe also expressed similar concerns while emphasising that the Government expected nothing but quality work because of the strategic importance of the highway to the Sadc region. “As will be appreciated, this road is very strategic, not only to Zimbabwe, but also to the Sadc region and part of the North-South Corridor,” he said. “The road, therefore, needs to meet international standards in order to maintain the traffic volumes on this busiest corridor in the region.

“We all expect nothing, but a modern high quality highway, which matches similar highways elsewhere including those in developed countries.” The President said infrastructure development was expensive, hence whenever the country undertook such projects, there was need to do a high quality job.

“Substandard work should never be tolerated,” he said. “In this regard, I call upon the relevant ministry to strictly supervise the construction works.”

The project is expected to be a game changer for the economy as it will have a significant positive multiplier effect to the rest of the economy.

Apart from local companies that would be contracted, the project will also see the employment of thousands of people. Meanwhile, Masvingo will now be at the forefront of participating in Command Agriculture, taking advantage of the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.

The new dam will relieve existing dams such as Lake Mutirikwi by complementing irrigation water supplies to the Lowveld sugar cane plantations owned by Tongaat Hulett and model A2 cane farmers. Tokwe-Mukosi Dam will also create thousands of jobs through hotels and other tourism ventures that are being planned around the dam.

The launch of the two mega projects is therefore a game changer in the country’s economic turnaround efforts.