Augur Investments (Pvt) Limited, the company constructing the Harare Airport Road hopes to complete the dualisation of the road this year, the company’s managing director has said.
REPORT BY BY JENNIFER DUBE
In an interview with The Standard, Michael van Blerk said a lot of unfair criticism had been lumped upon his company which was doing its best to complete the “complex project”.
“I want to complete the dualisation this year but this is dependent on the service providers,” van Blerk said. “When we are done with the project, people will be very proud, as they will now spend six minutes only on what used to be a 30-minute journey to the airport.”
Augur has been working on the project for more than four years now, much to the chagrin of Harare residents, especially following significant progress on other projects which started recently, like the Plumtree-Mutare road.
“That is like comparing apples and oranges,” van Blerk said. “It is an unfair comparison in terms of the product because that project [Plumteree-Mutare] involves resurfacing of an existing road and we are building a new road.”
Van Blerk said surface structure was only 15% of a road project.
He added that 70% of the corridor of the airport road has water mains, sewer lines and power cables which have to be moved before they can proceed with construction.
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In some cases, construction is behind by 20 months following failure by service providers to move the cables and pipes, mainly due to lack of capital and the fact that some of the infrastructure is aged.
“We are working in 100-metre segments because of the various services and this is very difficult for any construction company,” van Blerk said.
He said his company was almost half-way through the dualisation of the 12km road, excluding bridge works which are more than 50% of the project and have a much longer construction period.
He said it was also unfair for people to compare the cost of the airport road project with that of other projects, as the former was of a much higher degree and required a lot of expertise.
The total cost of the project currently stands at US$80 million. This includes the cost of other side roads which will bring the total project to 38km of road.
Van Blerk also clarified that contrary to media reports which have said the company received 10% payment in cash, the company actually received only 1% cash payment, which he said was far much lower than the 35% cash prepayments that are usually required by construction companies.
He said 99% was paid for in land, on which the company was building Africa’s second largest mall which will benefit Zimbabweans.
