Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The president of opposition MDC Alliance, Nelson Chamisa has said the newly built Kazungula Bridge was an indication that transformation was possible in Zimbabwe.
He speaks after he was mocked in 2018 for proposing to construct state-of-the-art infrastructure if he was to be elected the president of Zimbabwe with his critics arguing that his vision was utopian or unattainable.
Kazungula Bridge, commissioned on the 10th of May 2021, was constructed by Zambia and Botswana was funded as follows:
Package 1: funded by both Governments of Botswana and Zambia on 50% basis.
Package 2: One-Stop Border Post Botswana was funded by JICA exclusive of VAT while the Botswana Government funded the VAT component.
Package 3: One-Stop Border Post Zambia is funded by the African Development Bank.
Zimbabwe has reportedly offered to pay for a third of the $259.3 million project as it seeks to rejoin its neighbours in the initiative.
Commenting on Kazungula Bridge, Chamisa pointed out that only effective leadership can achieve the much-needed transformation in Zimbabwe. He said:
_VISION AND BIG DREAMS. The Kazungula Bridge shows what’s possible with effective leadership. Transformation is possible when corruption & looting stop. Our natural resources must benefit us. A Great Zimbabwe with the best spaghetti roads, motorways, bridges& border posts is possible!_
Zimbabwe’s infrastructure is dilapidated and has been for decades now that infrastructure development remains one of the key result areas and a perennial campaign promise by all political parties and politicians.
The state of affairs is attributed to the alleged mismanagement of state resources by the ruling ZANU PF that has been in power since the attainment of independence in 1980.
The ruling party on the other hand blames sanctions that were imposed on the country by Britain, the U.S. and their allies saying they left Zimbabwe without any fiscal space.
Since rising to power in 2017, president Emmerson Mnangagwa resumed his predecessor, Robert Mugabe’s road rehabilitation drive but the pace is still convincing in the eyes of many who believe a lot could have transpired since that period.
More: Pindula News
