The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has confirmed that installation of a new asphalt plant is under way in Masvingo Province, a move set to strengthen the province’s capacity to maintain and rehabilitate its road network.
In an update shared this week, the Ministry said the plant would primarily produce hot premix asphalt for road patching, supporting maintenance work across Masvingo, including roads falling under local authorities and rural and urban councils. The facility is expected to allow maintenance crews to respond more quickly to potholes and surface damage, reducing reliance on asphalt sourced from elsewhere and cutting turnaround times on repair work.
“From provincial highways to community roads, this is about bringing road maintenance closer to the people and keeping our road network safer, smoother and more accessible,” the Ministry said, describing the initiative as part of a broader drive to advance infrastructure development “kilometre by kilometre.”
The plant forms part of a wider push to decentralise asphalt production and place it closer to active project sites, a model the Ministry has used elsewhere in the country. A similar plant was established in Makuti to support the Harare-Chirundu road project, producing large volumes of asphalt per hour to speed up works on that route.
Masvingo has been a focal point of government road investment in recent months. The province sits along the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway, Zimbabwe’s busiest road and a key link in the North-South Corridor connecting Harare to the Beitbridge Border Post and onward to South Africa. That rehabilitation project, which has involved multiple local contractors, has progressed steadily, with the majority of the 582-kilometre route now upgraded and reopened to traffic.
Elsewhere in the province, work is continuing on the Trumpet Interchange, Chimusana Bridge and an urban bypass near Masvingo Polytechnic, close to the recently commissioned Mucheke River Bridge. The grade-separated interchange is designed to allow traffic bound for Beitbridge to bypass Masvingo’s central business district, easing congestion and improving road safety in the town.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Felix Mhona has previously toured road projects in Masvingo and Matabeleland South provinces, underscoring government’s stated commitment to expanding and maintaining road infrastructure nationally.
The new asphalt plant is expected to complement these ongoing works, giving Masvingo Province a permanent local capability for road patching and maintenance well beyond the completion of current highway projects.
