The 7km eight-lane boulevard running from Bindura Road straight to the new Parliament House at Mt Hampden is now being constructed with reputable Bitumen World under contract and carrying out the main works with four lanes in each direction.
Road construction falls within infrastructure clusters, and roads are considered key economic enablers for achieving Vision 2030, which is an upper-middle-income society.
Yesterday, there was a lot of activity on the access roads surrounding the new Parliament House from the Westgate roundabout along Old Mazowe Road.
Just days after the groundbreaking ceremony, Bitumen World is moving quickly with eye-catching work on access roads including land clearing at the new Boulevard Road Reserve.
Major works were also evident in the reconstruction of the approximately 13km old Mazwe Road from the Westgate roundabout with gravel works continuing to widen the road while bypass roads were also opened.
Around the New Parliament area, Bitumen World has recycled the existing road heading towards Mazowe direction.
Work is also underway to upgrade one new bridge along the old Mazwe Road to four lanes with a temporary bridge on one of the access roads.
All the works including the 4.7 km crescent around Parliament and a 2 km road also leading to Parliament are expected to be completed by July 31 this year.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development said in a statement that it had also directed Exodus and Company (Pvt) Ltd, which is building the Harare-Kanyimba road, to give priority to the urban section from the intersection of Nemakonde Road (formerly Lomagundi Road) with Sam Ngoma Street to the main entrance of the street. Leading to the new Parliament building.
This section will be duplicated and rehabilitated and must include street lighting and landscaping to be completed on or before July 31.
“Finally, in accordance with the Cabinet approval obtained in April 2023 for Bitumen World (Pvt) Ltd to construct the north-south corridor link and main entrances to the New Parliament, the Ministry has directed Bitumen World to prioritize the main entrances to the New Parliament including street lighting. Natural applications must also be completed on or before July 31.
“The ongoing works demonstrate the Ministry’s commitment to making tangible progress towards infrastructure development and ensuring satisfactory road infrastructure in support of the SADC Summit in August,” the statement read.
The statement also referred to the road infrastructure where the ministry will apply an asphalt concrete overlay including the entire length of Samora Machel Street from the Jaggers roundabout in the east to the Kuwadzana roundabout in the west, and Glenara Street from the roundabout on Vitalis Zvinavashe Road (formerly Dieppe Road) to the intersection with Samora Machel then go to the intersection with ED Mnangagwa Road.
At the same time, Vitalis Zvinavaşe Road will be repainted from the roundabout to Širimba Road via Braeside, which with the upgrade of Glenara Street will complement the Eastern Inner Ring Road.
Five other major roads in the city will have the overlay: Robert Mugabe Road, Gamal Abdel Nasser Road, Josiah Tongogara Street, selected parts of Harare Road from Jaggers Roundabout to Nyamakunde Road, and the entire extension of Simon Vengai Muzenda Street from its intersection with Robert Street. Mugabe Road to Josiah Tongogara Street.
During the groundbreaking ceremony for the roads, Bitumen World CEO, Mr. Andre Zietsman, said he was happy and privileged as a company to be involved in the project.
He said that it is a milestone because the company will be part of history and he is happy that all the work will be carried out around the new Parliament.
“The total project is about 26 kilometers and we have five months to complete it, so everything will be practical and we have to complete this project by July 31 before the SADC summit.
“We are very proud to be associated with this project and would like to thank our parent ministry and also the President for his vision and from our side we will ensure that we deliver this project on time,” Mr. Zietsman said.
Ms Esther Guenhor, a motorist who was driving along the Old Mazowe Road, told the Herald that since the road was constructed decades ago, no major rehabilitation work had been done.
“This is great. We commend the government for its great work as our vehicles will have a longer lifespan,” she said.
Another motorist, Mr. George Zendera, also expressed his happiness at the rehabilitation of the road, especially its widening.
“Given the influx of traffic due to the new Parliament, we commend the government for taking the bold decision to widen Old Mazwe Road,” he said.
Mr. Kelvin Dzova also praised the government for opening the new street from Bindura Road directly to the new Parliament building.
“This is the way to go, especially since we are talking about having a new city in the region where there should be many access roads. This is something that deserves praise on the part of our government,” he said.
