Zimbabwe is consulting the South African government over the construction of another bridge connecting the two neighbours at the current crossing point across the Limpopo River, a cabinet minister announced on Monday.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Felix Mhona said the cabinet had approved the construction of a third bridge across the Limpopo at Beitbridge between Zimbabwe and South Africa as part of efforts to respond to the demands of rapidly growing regional and international trade.
“Cabinet has already sanctioned this project and recently the project was approved and the contractor is doing feasibility studies which are almost done,” Mhona told the state-run Herald daily.
Zimbabwean officials are in the process of developing the necessary legal frameworks for the project, he added.
According to the minister, President Emmerson Mnangagwa had started engaging his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa over the need for the extra link.“We are happy to note President Mnangagwa is already engaging his South African counterpart over the issues.
The proposed bridge is expected to run parallel to the New Limpopo Bridge, which opened in 1995.
The original Alfred Beit Bridge was opened in 1929 as the direct road link between Zimbabwe and South Africa.By the mid-1990s the old bridge could hardly cope with the rising traffic and the New Limpopo Bridge opened in 1995, leaving the Alfred Beit Bridge to be dedicated to rail and pedestrian traffic only.Beitbridge Border Post is one of the busiest land entry points in Africa, serving tens of thousands of road travellers from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and further north daily.
