The company contracted by Government for the $241 million Beitbridge Border Post modernisation project yesterday said they were now finalising the designs and work plans with civil works expected to begin in February next year.
In an interview during a tour of the border post, Zim Borders director, Louis Raubenheimer, said they expected to start initial buildings in the next three months.
He said the project was being implemented under a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement which will see Zim Borders recouping its funds through border access fees to be collected over 17.5 years, before handing over the property to Government.
Zim Borders was awarded the tender to upgrade and modernise the port of entry in December 2017. In July this year, President Mnangagwa laid the foundation for the commencement of works when he led the ground breaking ceremony at the country and SADC’s busiest port of entry.
Upgrading and expanding the border post is expected to speed up the processes culminating in the implementation of the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) concept between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Some of the works under the modernisation programme include the construction of more commercial customs offices, paving and expansion of sewer and water reticulation facilities, separation of traffic into buses, light vehicles, tourists, commercial vehicles, construction of a commercial bridge to link with South Africa and the upgrading of Beitbridge Municipality’s key infrastructure among others.
The director of roads and operations in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Engineer Kudzanayi Chinyanga, said the work programme was on course and they expected everything to go according to plan.
“The idea is to familiarise all government actors and agencies on the border. This is why we are here with the contractor to understand work programming and work phasing. “The project will start in earnest in February. This is meant to allow detailed planning and to capture every agency’s input into the works.”
