Works on Christmas Pass By-Pass Imminent

MUTARE- Works on the much anticipated Christmas Pass by pass road
construction are imminent following the closing of deals between Government
and a private contractor, Leengate Private Limited.

In April Cabinet announced plans to construct a 33km road to serve as an
alternative route in and out of Mutare necessitated by relentless road accidents
on Christmas Pass, especially those involving haulage trucks.

Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs and Devolution, Misheck Mugadza
said the public-private partnership was in place with a few issues on the table
left before the groundbreaking ceremony.

“Works on the implementation of the Christmas Pass by pass road are at an
advanced stage in which we expect the ground breaking ceremony to be held
soon. The Public-Private Partnership is already in place and all is ready for
works to commence save for a few logistical matters to be sorted out for the
take off,” said Minister Mugadza.

The new road will access Forbes Border Post and relieve congestion on the
Christmas Pass road which has become unsafe owing to inadequate carrying
capacity.

The by-pass project is expected to be interwoven with the construction of a new
dry port to improve clearing cargo at the border post.

About 300 trucks are cleared at the port of entry daily and at times congestion
becomes the order of the day with long winding queues stretching for over 15
km into the Central Business District (CBD) thereby causing congestion in the
city.

It is against this background that proposals have been put in place to use the
vast tracts of land available at Quest Motors as a one stop shop for truckers to
park their cargo as they await clearing thus minimising pressure on the city’s
feeder roads that lead to Forbes Border Post.

Quest Motors site covers 20 hectares of land with most of the land still available
for development.

Quest Motors General Manger, Carl Fernandez said the manufacturing plant
had an idea of establishing a truck park for preclearance at Quest Motors to ease
the burden on the major roads leading into the city.

“We have an idea to do a truck park and we will be speaking the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority on the issue of having the trucks coming in here. The idea is
if the trucks park here, they are pre-cleared and use the back road to the border.

“This entails us also putting in a weigh bridge and becomes a one stop shop for
Forbes Border Post to enable them to handle the traffic. It also gives us a way of
taking the traffic of the road and streamlining operations. It would be an idea we
like to explore as a business venture as well as benefitting the entire Mutare
populace,” said Fernandez.

Currently, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) is operating from five
different sites, thereby creating inefficiencies at the border.