THE Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has been battling to contain long queues that have surfaced at the Forbes Border Post in Mutare over the past week following a road traffic accident at the point of entry.
In a statement yesterday, Zimra said the pile -up that occurred on October 3, 2023 involving four trucks had led to the temporary closure of the exit channel and sharing of the entry channel for all traffic, resulting in the build-up.
“Zimra confirms that there were long queues forming at Forbes Border in the past week. Zimra is working in conjunction with other State agencies, partners, stakeholders and authorities,” the statement read.
“Zimra is confident the traffic will return to normal levels not later than 15th of October 2023 while long term measures are being considered to increase the border post traffic capacity to handle the current dynamics,”
“The long queues stemmed from an accident at Forbes Border Post on October 3, 2023 involving four trucks leading to the temporary closure of the exit channel and sharing of the entry channel for all traffic, resulting in a traffic build-up.”
The operating hours for Forbes Border Post have since been extended in a bid to manage the congestion.
Zimra urged clearing agents, importers and exporters to take advantage of the pre-clearance facility to shorten the waiting time within the border area.
Port of Beira is nearer to Durban Port, reducing transport costs and turnaround times for transporters and businesses. This has resulted in a surge in traffic to Beira via Forbes.