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RAYMOND JARAVAZA, [email protected]

BULAWAYO’S traffic congestion caused by illegally parked cross-border buses could soon be a thing of the past after the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) availed space where these buses can park.

The NRZ and Bulawayo City Council (BCC) are collaborating to convert part of the NRZ station’s parking area into a parking space for the buses. The move is meant to address the chaos caused by buses dropping off and picking up passengers in undesignated areas, which also attracts vendors.

NRZ bus port 

Several streets in Bulawayo’s city centre have been turned into cross-border bus ranks and most of these pick and drop points are illegal. This has resulted in parts of the central business district becoming hotspots for illegal activities.

NRZ bus port

The corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and Fifth Avenue is notorious for congestion caused by buses dropping off and picking up travellers to and from Botswana. Similarly, buses plying the Bulawayo/Johannesburg route pick and drop passengers in places such as Tongogara Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and others park on the corner of Fife Street and Leopold Takawira, opposite the Bulawayo Central Police Station.

The section that NRZ intends to convert into a rank for cross-border buses is a vast parking area that has, over the years, become a white elephant.

NRZ public relations manager, Mr Andrew Kunambura confirmed the proposed plan that has been agreed upon between NRZ and BCC.

“There is no plan to turn it into a taxi rank as widely speculated but a rank for cross-border buses,” said Mr Kunambura.

BCC spokesperson, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu could not be reached for comment. An official from council however said the local authority opted for the NRZ station due to the availability of amenities such as toilets, running water and buildings that can be used as waiting areas by cross-border travellers.

NRZ bus port

“The NRZ station has a huge parking area that is not being fully utilised right now, which can accommodate a lot of buses. There are also buildings that are empty, which travellers can use as waiting areas before boarding buses. The place has toilets and running water, which makes it very ideal for a bus rank,” he said.

Bulawayo United Residents Association (Bura) chairman, Mr Winos Dube said that although he does not have full details of the proposed plan, if implemented properly, it will assist in de-congesting the city centre and bring sanity to the operations of cross-border buses.

One such facility known as Roadport in central Harare is the country’s largest cross-border bus terminus. Roadport started operations in the late 1990s and serves travellers going to different countries in the Sadc and some parts of East Africa by road.