Wirtgen Group machines rehabilitate one of Zimbabwe’s most important arterial highways
Fatal accidents, long traffic jams, narrow sections, and enormous potholes make the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway a nightmare for many road users. The busy highway, which leads through five provinces of Zimbabwe and is one of the most important links between the TransAfrica Highway and South Africa, was in urgent need of rehabilitation and had long since exceeded its planned service life of 20 years. The extensive rehabilitation of the around 582 km section between Beitbridge and Harare and the partial widening of the roadway from 7 m to 12.5 m began in 2019. The work is being carried out by a large and complex fleet of machines, which includes Wirtgen recyclers, Vögele pavers, and Hamm compactors, Kleemann crushers and a Ciber asphalt mixing plant.
The Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway has immense strategic significance for the economic development of Zimbabwe. The highway not only handles a large proportion of the freight to South Africa, but is also an important part of the African North-South Corridor. Its bad condition, heavy traffic and poor road safety record have increasingly become a serious problem for local economies. In view of this situation, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development assigned highest priority to the project and awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of this particular section to five local contractors. These include, amongst others, five of the country’s leading infrastructure contractors: Bitumen World, Fossil Contracting, Tensor Systems, Exodus and Masimba Construction.
The existing two-lane road will be successively replaced by a dual carriageway, rehabilitated, widened by up to 12.5 m and brought into line with international standards. The project also foresees the construction of a total of 17 toll stations, which represent an important future source of revenue for the maintenance of roads throughout the country. The project is already well on its way to completion: Not least thanks to the rapid progress of the construction work made possible by machine-power from the Wirtgen Group. Current forecasts predict the completion of the project in 2023.
A true mega-project: Metre-by-metre, a whole army of machines works its way through the country. Vögele pavers, Hamm rollers and compactors, Wirtgen recyclers, Kleemann and CIBER mobile asphalt mixing plants all play decisive roles in assuring the success of the project. All of these machines have been adapted and optimised to meet the particular challenges of this project. They impress with efficiency and cost-effectiveness, enable the achievement of qualitatively outstanding results and easily cope with both the extremely high summer temperatures of up to 45 degrees and extraordinarily high rainfall during the rainy season.
The Wirtgen Group has been an active player on the African market for many years. Wirtgen machines for earthworks and road construction, mining, and the processing of rocks and recycling materials are preferred partners for the realisation of large scale construction projects throughout the country, and set entirely new quality standards in the construction sector with their cost-effectiveness and efficiency – as also demonstrated on the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu Highway mega-project. The local Wirtgen Group South Africa sales and service organisation arranged the deal. The high quality of the machines, short supply chains, good technical support and rapid availability of genuine spare parts convinced the contractors involved in the project – Bitumen World, Fossil Contractors, Tensor Systems, Exodus and Masimba Holdings – and tipped the scales in favour of purchasing machines from the Wirtgen Group. The machines were provided by the Machinery Exchange Group (MXG). The company is not only the local dealer for Wirtgen Group machines, but also the after-sales contact for maintenance and service. It is one of the leading service providers in the area of mining, construction, earthworks, agriculture and transportation in Zimbabwe.
The project was split into three sections:
Sub-sections with a length of 20 km were assigned to each of the contractors. These could be extended to 100 km, depending on the performance delivered. In addition to this, a further 10 kilometres of dual carriageway was constructed at the feeder roads to Harare, Chivhu, Masvingo and Beitbridge.
Bitumen World (PVT) LTD
Founded in 2012, and an established contractor in the Zimbabwean construction industry with its own laboratory for materials testing.
Assigned project sub-sections: Masvingo – Beitbridge (km 164 to km 237) | Beitbridge Urban (12 km)
Main tasks: Removal of existing layer, paving of base layer, paving of new asphalt surface layer
Wirtgen Group machines deployed: Vögele SUPER 1603-i pavers, Hamm 3411 and 3520 compactors, Hamm HD 090 V tandem rollers, Hamm pneumatic-tyre rollers and Wirtgen WR 240 cold recyclers, to name but a few
Three sections with a length of 20 km each so far completed, a fourth section is under construction. Contract expected to be awarded for the next 40 km.
Earthmoving: 312,000 m³
Cement treated base layer (CTB): 228,000 m³
Compaction: 130,000 m³
Asphalt base layer: Asphalt thickness 40 mm, in total 520,000 m³
Masimba Holdings
Masimba Holdings Limited is a well-established Zimbabwean contracting and industrial group, providing innovative engineering and infrastructure client solutions to the agricultural, commercial, communications, housing, mining, water and logistics sectors.
Assigned project sections: Masvingo Road
Length of construction measures: 70 km
Total asphalt works to date: 70 km
Total G5 subbase works to date: 70.3 km
Total upper selected layer works to date: 71 km
Total lower selected layer works to date: 70.3 km
Total subgrade works to date: 72 km
Main tasks: Removal of existing layer, paving of base layer, paving of new asphalt surface layer
Wirtgen Group machines deployed: Vögele SUPER 1603-i pavers, Hamm 3411 and 3520 compactors, HD 090 V tandem rollers, Hamm pneumatic-tyre rollers, Wirtgen WR 240 cold recyclers and a Kleemann crushing train
Total G5 subbase works to date: 320,941.60 m³
Total upper selected layer works to date: 205,223.85 m³
Total lower selected layer works to date: 208,613.25 m³
Total subgrade works to date: 231,912.00 m³
Fossil Contracting Company
Founded 2010, specialises in civil engineering, mining, road construction, earthworks, structural and civil engineering and equipment rentals.
Assigned project sections: Harare – Beitbridge Road
Length of construction measures: 80 km
Main tasks: Removal of existing layer, paving of base layer, paving of new asphalt surface layer
Wirtgen Group machines deployed: Vögele pavers, Hamm rollers, Wirtgen WR 240i recyclers
Total volume: 367,200 m³
Tensor Systems PVT LTD
Founded 2003, offers a wide range of services in the areas of civil engineering, structural engineering and infrastructure development.
Assigned project sections: Harare Post Office direction Beitbridge Road
Length of construction measures: 100 km
Main tasks: Asphalt paving and civil engineering works
Wirtgen Group machines deployed: Vögele pavers, Wirtgen recyclers
Surface area processed: 1,141,200 m²
Total volume: 684,720 m³
