The ManicaPost
Group Five International, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Group Five Construction, has said it will complete rehabilitation of the 828km road between Plumtree and Mutare this year, ahead of the 2015 deadline by which the project was set to be completed. The cost of the rehabilitation exercise is $200 million.
Group Five project director Ham Coetzee said on Monday the construction company had so far rehabilitated 712km of the Plumtree-Mutare highway.
“We are targeting to complete all works by mid-December, but the installations from Goromonzi to Gweru might flow into January and February next year,” Mr Coetzee said.
The project began in 2012 and has been financed by a loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Mr Coetzee said the slow disbursement of funds by the bank had been the major factor that often had delayed work on the road rehabilitation exercise and had forced a cut in workforce from nearly 2 000 to 1 078.
“The work entails rehabilitation, widening shoulder ceilings and resurfacing the Plumtree to Harare and Harare to Mutare highways, including installing nine toll plazas at a cost of $3m each,” said Mr Coetzee.
Four of nine toll plazas constructed by the company are now operational.
Group Five was contracted by the Government through Infra-link to carry out the road and toll plaza projects. Infra-link is a 70%-30% joint venture company between the road agency, the Zimbabwe National Road Administration and Group Five.
Meanwhile, a Zimbabwe court on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to reverse a 100% hike on toll fees unilaterally announced a fortnight ago by Obert Mpofu, the Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister. Zimbabwe’s Lawyers for Human Rights had filed an application to reverse the decision, which it said was made without public consultation.
Judge Joseph Mafusire said Mr Mpofu had not erred as it was the responsibility of the Executive to decide how to fund road construction and maintenance. He cited the court judgment in South Africa last year after motorists resisted the introduction of e-tolls. — Business Day.
