All eight contractors working on the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls road are back on site, government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said on Thursday. Each is targeting at least 20 kilometres by December 2026.

In a statement posted on X, Mangwana said 73.4km of the road has been rehabilitated so far. The work is being done in phases: bush clearing, detours, earthworks, drainage, surfacing and widening.

"This won't be completed overnight, but Government is committed to the project and prioritizing it," he wrote, adding that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development was stepping up monitoring of the project's scope, progress and quality. He described the trip between Bulawayo, Hwange and Victoria Falls as "currently a 15-hour journey" and urged motorists to take care at construction zones. Bulawayo24 also reported the statement.

Replying to a critic on X who suggested the machines were on site only for photographs, Mangwana wrote: "We have limited resources. We first mobilize enough financial resources then we pay contractors and they go onsite. This is not a photo op."

Reaction

Opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume said the contractors' return followed "our outcry", but that the target falls short. "20km each by December is damage control—not serious rehabilitation," he wrote on X, calling for complete reconstruction of the road.

How we got here

The 440km road is being rebuilt under the second phase of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme, launched in July 2025 with an initial 10-month completion target, CITE reported. Five contractors started the work and three more were added later: Fossil Contracting, Masimba Holdings, Syvern Investment, Bitumen Resources, Tensor Systems, Asphalt Products, Bitumen World and Linash Construction.

Progress has been slow. The 73.4km figure in Thursday's statement is the same total The Herald reported as open to traffic on 30 July, when it said two of the eight lots had not yet opened any sections. The statement did not say how much has been added since then.

In August, Transport Minister Felix Mhona told Parliament the project "had stalled" because contractors were "on a go-slow" over funding, though they had not left the site, CITE reported. In his State of the Nation Address in September, President Mnangagwa set a target of 50km of the road during the current session of Parliament.

Earlier this month, Hwange East MP Joseph Bonda told CITE that detours were covering nearby communities in dust and that "only 70 of the 400 kilometres have been serviced and resurfaced".

Why it matters

The road is the main route from Bulawayo to Hwange and Victoria Falls, the country's best-known tourist destination, and a link to Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. It carries tourists, trucks, mine traffic and families travelling between Matabeleland North and the rest of the country, so delays cost time and money for everyone who uses it.

The December target gives motorists a clear marker. If the contractors deliver, the next progress figure from the ministry should be well above 73.4km.

Sources: Nick Mangwana (government spokesperson) on X, 22 Oct 2026: https://x.com/nickmangwana/status/2113196948597448977 · Nick Mangwana on X, 22 Oct 2026: https://x.com/nickmangwana/status/2113230051265409358 · Bulawayo24, 22 Oct 2026: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-267759.html · Jacob Ngarivhume on X, 22 Oct 2026: https://x.com/NgarivhumeJ/status/2113302831826354460 · The Herald (Freeman Razemba), 31 Jul 2026: https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/about-73-4-kilometres-of-the-bulawayo-victoria-falls-road-complete/ · CITE (Tanaka Mrewa), 29 Sep 2026: https://cite.org.zw/govt-targets-50km-upgrade-on-bulawayo-victoria-falls-road/ · CITE (Senzeni Ncube), 13 Aug 2026: https://cite.org.zw/bulawayo-victoria-falls-road-works-to-resume-after-go-slow/ · CITE (Lulu Brenda Harris), 12 Oct 2026: https://cite.org.zw/communities-choke-on-dust-as-vic-falls-highway-works-drag-on/