By Beverly Bizeki
The long awaited construction of the Mucheke main bridge in Masvingo is progressing steadly with authorities saying it is now 58 percent complete and anticipated to be completed by end of September this year.
Masvingo Deputy Provincial Roads Engineer Shadreck Kativhu confirmed the development and said preparations for the final deck were being worked on.
“The bridge at Chevron is now on 58 percent. Preparations are being done for the construction of the final deck and we expect that by end of September we would have completed works at the bridge,” said Kativhu.
Kativhu said the Chimusana Bridge was 2.5 percent while the interchange on Charumbira Street was on three percent and construction was already underway.
“The Chimusana Bridge is at 2.5 percent. Relocation of sewer lines, bases of foundations and preparation of a detour upstream is taking place.
“For the third one, the interchange, construction has started and it is now on three percent,” said Kativhu.
Construction of the Chevron Bridge commenced in June 2024 and was initially supposed to be completed in February 2025 after years of false starts.
In March this year, officials said efforts on the Chevron Bridge were at 40 percent completion and designs for Chimusana Bridge were at advanced stages, both of which will alleviate congestion.
In 2012/13 budget, Masvingo City Council had proposed US$800 000 for the widening of Chimusana Bridge and in 2014 council then indicated that the same project needed at least US$2.5million. The council, then under the late Town Clerk Adolf Gusha claimed that the money that was proposed in the 2012 council budget was never collected as residents failed to pay their bills.
In 2018, government cancelled a tender to modernize the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway that had been awarded to Austrian firm, Geiger International and awarded it to five local companies namely Masimba Holdings, Exodus and Company, Fossil Contracting, Bitumen World and Tensor.
In 2022 Masimba Construction Company was contracted to construct additional bridges on Mucheke River in Masvingo which were aimed at reducing congestion along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP 2).
The Mucheke Chevron Bridge is located on the Harare-Masvingo Beitbridge highway and is used by traffic to Harare with it also being used by the locals to cross to Masvingo CBD.
The bridge is the only route into town when Chimusana Bridge is flooded.
With the bridge being the only way through to the CBD from across the river, traffic congestion stretches from the bridge to Masvingo Polytechnic and to Chikato Police station from the other side.
Reports also showed that Chimusana structures consist of two new double-lane bridges, each 74m long, forming a 4-lane dual carriageway on the Masvingo City Bypass. The western bridge will carry northbound traffic, while the eastern bridge will carry southbound traffic. Construction of these two bridges commenced in August 2024 and is scheduled to be completed in May 2025.
