NOW that the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway is destined for major rehabilitation works through build, operate and transfer (BOT) concept, all eyes are now set on Bitumen World to proverbially hit the ground running in terms of implementation.
Government, through relevant ministries, recently announced that it had entered into a BOT arrangement with the above mentioned company to do all the necessary roadworks on the main road linking two border towns of Victoria Falls and Beitbridge.
This programme will also cover Bulawayo as it is the nucleus of the whole exercise whose catalytic location is not an exception.
The travelling public has all its eyes on this grand project, which is expected to transform road network within southern Africa.
Talking of all eyes focused on road construction, Yours Truly was inundated with questions on when this much-awaited programme was going to be implemented as various established detours were also proving to be an impendiment to the environment on some parts of the highway.
A good example is a four-kilometre stretch from Hwange's by-pass garages to Number 1 North popularly known as Sinderella whose temporary circumvent road was earlier constructed by Bitumen World during its brief stint in Hwange.
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However, this deviation has now degenerated into a worst nightmare due to the amount of dust being generated through movement by all sorts of vehicles using this sole road which has also proved impassable due to bluntness of the terrain.Noise pollution has joined the problematic fray much to the chagrin of local residents who have castigated Environmental Management Agency (EMA) for its lackaidsical approach to this life threatening predicament.
To the uniinitiated, EMA is a statutory body whose responsility is utilisation of natural resources, prevention of pollution and earth degradation through a sustainable manner.
As alluded above, Yours Truly has been bombarded with questions concerning the full meaning of 'build, operate and transfer ' concept.
They also wanted to know why Bitumen World was not currently on the ground to commence the much touted roadworks as enunciated by the government a month ago.
However, everyone at our imbibing place including Yours Truly was not well versed in such project management (BOT) terms meant to change the travelling and touring world in terms of road network systems.
Thanks to the world wide web and artificial intelligence for the new found knowledge BOT is a term meant to describe a contract model used to finance large projects, especially infrastructural programmes developed through public-private partnerships.
This refers to initial concession by a public entity such as local government to a private firm to both build and operate the project in question. After an agreed set time (for example 20-30 years), control of the project is returned to the public entity.
This whole exercise normally involves three stages namely building, operation and transferring. In other words the private firm (Bitumen World) agrees to construct the road with the government. The company finances construction with some form of government incentives. After completion of the project, the organisation operates over a predetermined period as part of efforts on recovering its operating costs and investments.
After completion of the contract period, the company transfers the project to government entity usually involving a predetermined process and at times some form of compensation. Some of the examples in Zimbabwe include Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway, the New Limpopo Bridge, the Newlands by-pass as well as Plumtree-Mutare Highway rehabilitation programmes.
These are the few titbits which Yours Truly managed to scrounge on describing BOT in laymen's language.
Till we meet again in the next column.
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