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    Works on Christmas Pass By-Pass Imminent

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    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.

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