SOUTH Africa-based roads engineering firm Group Five International says it plans to complete the rehabilitation of Harare-Plumtree and Harare-Mutare roads by mid-December.
TARISAI MANDIZHA
Giving oral evidence before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, Group Five projects director Ham Coetzee yesterday said they had to date competed a 200km stretch from the total project of 828km.
He added that four of the nine toll plaza they were tasked to construct were now operational.
“We are targeting by mid-December all road works will be completed with the last toll plaza in Gweru and Goromonzi,” Coetzee said.
The multi-million dollar project is being managed by Group Five International, a subsidiary of Group Five Construction. The project entails the upgrading of three artery roads — Plumtree to Harare and Harare to Mutare along with new tolling points, which would also be constructed to replace existing tollgates, which have been officially declared temporary structures.
Group Five was contracted by government through Infralink to carry out the road rehabilitation project and the toll plaza project under the $206 million loan secured from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) by Infralink.
Infralink is a 70/30% joint venture company between the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) and Group Five, in which Zinara is the majority shareholder.
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Coetzee said the project involved 150km rehabilitation, 250km shoulder widening and 423km resurfacing. He said the cost of rehabilitation per kilometer was $250 000 and each toll plaza was costing $3 million.
He, however, said as of January 2014, Group Five had reduced its workforce to 1078 people as compared to over 2 000 employees in 2013 due to late disbursement of funds by DBSA bank.
Commenting on the Indigenisation laws in Zimbabwe, Coetzee said the company was utilising local sub-contractors and the greater percentages of workers were Zimbabweans.
Commenting on the lifespan and the durability of the project, Coetzee said the rehabilitation project would last 10 years.
