A feasibility study to determine the viability of the upcoming construction and tolling of the Harare-Beitbridge road is being undertaken by Royal HaskoningDHV.

Phil Hasluck, project manager of Royal HaksoningDHV, says the study will be carried out in association with five Zimbabwean partner firms and will involve traffic studies, development of a toll strategy, engineering analysis and concept design, environmental impact scoping, economic feasibility study, financial modelling and preparation of draft project information memorandum for investors.

The Harare-Beitbridge road is part of the trunk road network of Zimbabwe, which is a part of the North-South Corridor – one of the major arterial links in the regional road network. The road is the most direct link between the capital cities of Harare and Pretoria, and provides landlocked Zambia access to the Indian Ocean ports of Durban and Richards Bay in South Africa.

“The road carries between 1 000 and 5 000 vehicles per day, with the heavier flows in the proximity of Harare. Of significance is the fact that a high proportion of this traffic is trucks that are carrying goods, equipment and machinery needed to support the Zimbabwean economic recovery,” says Hasluck.

The road project is approximately 580 km long, starting just outside Harare and ending at the Beitbridge border post. It is a single carriageway two lane road with numerous bridges, some of substantial size. Although well maintained in the past, the road is now over 40 years old, bumpy and dangerous in some places, and is rapidly deteriorating under the increased heavy vehicle traffic. Alternatives to improve it as a single carriageway road or to add certain sections as dual carriageway will be assessed.

The anticipated cost of rehabilitating and improving the road is in excess of US$600million (R5.34 billion), some of which will be funded as a loan against revenue from the tolls.