Construction of the Mbudzi Interchange in Harare has reached about 55% completion, with work on the US$88 million project expected to be finished by the second quarter of this year, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Felix Mhona has said.
Speaking after a media tour yesterday, Mhona said significant progress had been made on civil works, a major component of the project.
Work on all the 15 bridges had begun, with some already finished.
“In terms of completion, we are at 55%. We have come a long way. The bridges are on various stages, some are complete (while) some are not. We are here driving the agenda of His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa to run with infrastructural development,” Mhona said.
“By July 31, we must be having our interchange. It would be complete. Our engineers are working 24/7 and even at night so that we meet the target.”
The Transport minister also revealed that US$45 million has so far been spent on the project.
Mhona said 46 owners of properties which were demolished to make way for the multi-million-dollar Mbudzi Interchange had been compensated.
“We have close to 51 property owners with title deeds, while we had close to 135 people who had settled here through the Harare City Council. The rest had settled illegally.
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“So as we speak, out of 51 property owners, we are only left with five who we are engaging closely with. So in total, we have compensated 46 property owners. We have already agreed on the compensation framework,” Mhona said.
The Tefoma Construction joint venture, comprising local firms Tensor Systems, Fossil Contracting and Masimba Construction, is executing the project.
Financing is being provided through a loan from Fossil Mines (Pvt) Limited, the parent company of Fossil Contracting.
The Mbudzi Interchange project is expected to ease congestion at the intersection along the busy Harare-Beitbridge Highway.
Mhona also revealed the planned completion of the VVIP Pavillion mini-airport at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport by the same date.
