A GROUP of local companies and business entrepreneurs have set up a consortium to build the Harare-Beitbridge road, Affirmative Action Group (AAG) president, Supa Mandiwanzira announced in London.

The consortium for the US$600m project is led by Costain Africa managing director, Tendai Chimuriwo. Other companies involved in the consortium, known as ZimHighways, are Murray & Roberts, Kuchi Construction, BancABC, Tarcon Civil Construction and Mining Group and Shingi Mutasa’s Joina Development.

Mandiwanzira said the single-carriageway Harare-Beitbridge highway had recorded some of the country’s worst road accidents. The plan is to turn it into a dual carriageway.

Urging UK-based Zimbabweans to take part in their home economy, Mandiwanzira told members of the Zimbabwe Growth (ZG) Club in London last week: “We are putting together a sum of more than US$600 million to start work on building this very important travel and trade route which links the country and the entire continent to vital ports in South Africa.

“We would like for the Diaspora community to play a leading role in this and other economic functions that are currently present in Zimbabwe.”

Mandiwanzira said the Zimbabwe government was looking for private investors with between US$300 and US$400 million for the dualisation of the Harare-Chirundu road – a major gateway to countries to the north of Zimbabwe.

At the same event, Mandiwanzira also fielded questions on Zimbabwe’s indigenisation laws which require all foreign-owned businesses to localise a minimum 51 percent of their shareholding over a period of five years.

Critics have described the programme as an asset-grab, comparing it to the controversial land reforms. They add that the programme could harm the country’s economic recovery by discouraging much-needed investment.

But Mandiwanzira said: “For me this is the most exciting development since independence in 1980.  This is a policy which has been much needed to empower previously disadvantaged locals. Unfortunately, most critics of this law have bashed it without even reading or understanding it.”

The Zimbabwe Growth Club meanwhile, is understood to have made formal agreements to work together with the AAG towards bridging economic investment of UK-based Zimbabwean businesses and local ones.

ZG Club is a dynamic, apolitical membership club that facilitates the development of commercial initiatives, idea generation and debate on business and political issues pertaining to Zimbabwe.

The organisation is growing steadily and is actively recruiting members, with the aim to have a cross cutting and wide ranging network of professional Zimbabweans who have a passion for economic empowerment.