The Mabvuku Interchange on the Harare-Mutare highway is close to finished and is due to be handed over to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development next month, the contractor building it says.

NewZimbabwe reported on Sunday that the interchange is now 90 percent complete. Brighton Mashonganyika, project manager for the contractor Premier Rocks, said construction had reached an advanced stage and the project would be handed to the Transport ministry in November.

Speaking to The Blast earlier in the week, Mashonganyika put the date more precisely. "The work is almost complete. We are expecting that by the end of next month, all the works would have been completed and we would have handed over to the Ministry of Transport, who is our client," he said.

Not every report gives the same progress figure. The Herald, reporting on Thursday on the same ministerial tour, said the first phase of the Mabvuku-Tafara interchange was 81 percent complete and expected to be finished by the end of next month.

What the interchange is for

The interchange sits at the junction of Harare Drive and the Harare-Mutare Road. It is designed to separate fast highway traffic from local traffic heading into Mabvuku, Tafara, Ruwa and Msasa. NewZimbabwe described the junction as a blackspot for jams and accidents, and a motorist quoted by The Herald, Langton Moyo, said several people had died there in road crashes.

"The interchanges are meant to separate traffic and ease congestion along the Harare-Mutare Highway," Mashonganyika said.

The progress update came during a tour organised by the Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services ministry and led by acting Information Minister Paul Mavima, with Harare Metropolitan Province Minister Charles Tawengwa, according to NewZimbabwe and The Herald.

Delays and what comes next

Work started in September 2025. The project has already slipped once: The Granite Post noted that in April the government expected construction to finish by September 2026, a deadline that passed, and that earlier reports this month had pointed to an opening by the end of the year.

Mashonganyika told The Blast that the contractor had faced delays importing specialised equipment, with border posts sometimes overwhelmed, but said most of the equipment it needed was now in the country.

Premier Rocks has already moved on to the Msasa Interchange, where piling and foundation work is under way, NewZimbabwe reported. Equipment will then go to Delport Road for a trumpet interchange. The work is part of the wider Greater Harare Interchanges Project, which also targets congestion points at Jaggers/Msasa, Delport Road and Seke Road.

Why it matters

The Harare-Mutare highway is part of the Beira Corridor, carrying commuters, national commercial traffic and regional freight between Zimbabwe and the Port of Beira in Mozambique through Forbes Border Post. Once finished, the Delport Road works are meant to give a 19-kilometre surfaced link from Mutare Road to Airport Road and Seke Road, so traffic heading for Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and Chitungwiza can avoid the city centre.

For people living in Mabvuku, Tafara and Ruwa, the handover would also mean an end to months of detours around one of the city's busiest eastern approaches. The ministry has not yet announced a date for the interchange to open to traffic.

Sources: NewZimbabwe (Anna Chibamu), 25 Oct 2026: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/mabvuku-interchange-90-complete-roadworks-to-eliminate-blackspot-for-traffic-jams-and-accidents/ · The Blast (Desire Tshuma), 21 Oct 2026: https://theblast.co.zw/2026/10/21/16328/ · The Herald (Remember Deketeke) via Zimbabwe Situation, 22 Oct 2026: https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/infrastructure-projects-gather-pace-in-harare/ · The Granite Post, Oct 2026: https://www.thegranite.co.zw/articles/mabvuku-interchange-80-percent-complete-year-end-opening

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