Construction of the 15km stretch of road between the city centre and the Harare International Airport is projected to be complete by December this year. Construction of phase 1 of the road project, which commenced six years ago, is set to be complete in the next six months.
An official in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Engineer Mufaro Eric Gumbie says there has been progress since ZINARA took over the project from Harare City Council and Augur Investments.
“We are now at the stage of completion,” said Engineer Gumbie.
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Obert Mpofu, touring the road construction project, said he was happy with the progress as the project had stalled until three weeks ago.
“Work only started after a long stand off,” Mpofu said.
The Harare City Council Town Clerk, Tendai Mahachi, and the director of urban planning services, Psychology Chiwanga, are members of the board of directors of Augur Investments.
In June 2008 a caretaker council appointed by Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo signed an agreement with the company to upgrade the road.
Costing of the Airport Highway was US$28,1 million for the dual carriage way and slip roads and US$35,7 million for the five flyover bridges, with US$4,8 million for professional fees and provisional sums to cover items such as street lighting.
This brought the total cost to US$68,6 million before VAT.
Questions have been asked on the cost of the project considering that far bigger projects such as the construction of the 77km Ngezi Road in Chegutu by Zimplats cost only US$19 million, yet it is structurally one of the best roads in Africa and can carry massive road trains.
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