via Bufallo Range airport in sorry state: official 20 August 2014
THE Buffalo Range Airport in Masvingo is in a deplorable state and must be upgraded urgently to meet regional standards, a senior government official has said.
Munesu Munodawafa, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, made the remarks while on a visit to Mutare recently.
Munodawafa said Buffalo Range was the gate-way to the Transfrontier Park, a giant national park that stretches across three countries – from the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, Kruger National Park in South Africa and right into Mozambique.
He said standards at Buffalo Range had plummeted and the airport was now lagging behind similar airports in the Transfrontier zone.
“We need to upgrade Buffalo Range because it opens us to the Transfontier with Mozambique and South Africa. As things stand now we believe our counterparts (Mozambique and South Africa) are ahead of us,” said Munodawafa.
He said the terminal building at Bufallo Range was not up to standard considering the kind of tourists that frequent the area.
“If you look at the kind of tourists that go there, they are exclusive. That’s where Shakira went when she went to South Africa. This is the place where Bill Gates went to the other time, so we want to cater for that type of tourists,” he said.
Munodawafa’s statement came as a kick in the face for Manicaland hospitality and tourism players who were pestering the government to upgrade the Grand Reef Aerodrome in Mutare.
Tourism players in the Eastern Highlands, the hub of tourism in Zimbabwe, want the government to upgrade the Grand Reef Aerodrome to a state-of-the-art airport to cater for domestic and international visitors.
They also said the non-availability of an air service has impacted negatively on the development and growth of tourism in the province.
But Munodawafa was frank and told the tourism players that the government was broke and not in a position to prioritise the Mutare airport project at the moment.
“We are fully aware that we need to develop domestic tourism but the bottom line is we have limited resources,” he said.
“We decided to do these projects in phases. We have been working on the Harare International Airport. We completed the Joshua Nkomo Airport (in Bulawayo) last year and we are commissioning it in December.
“Now we are working on Victoria Falls and as we speak we have opened the Harare-Kariba route through Air Zimbabwe.”
COMMENTS
Ahem!?? Buffalo Range airport is in Chiredzi, not Masvingo.
And Chredzi is in Masvingo province, mate.
Errr, I have never heard of “Masvingo Province” …have you “mate”? I have heard that Masvingo and Chiredzi and Buffalo Range are in the Midlands Province mate,..am I correct “matey”? Oh by the way it is best to land on 14 runway mate!
Now why is that ????? !!!!!????
Surprise surprise. Another ZANU screwup.
Good Grief
What limited resources? Other ministries are borrowing money to buy brand new cars for top officials & no one knows where the revenue from the diamonds is going…
It’s a white Rhodie airport so why maintain it ? Perhaps it’s the Britshes fault for letting it rot. Like the electricity and water why bother it doesn’t make money and it can’t be looted so it want get any govtattention
screw zanu
These are just sanctions-Cdes.But how many things are not in a sorry state.Ichoooooo
I guess cde has a point. towns like chiredzi, vic falls should be given 1st priority coz of their production potential. the lowveld is known for its sugar production while vicfalls is famous for its tourism. the last time I passed thru buffalo ranch airport I almost shed a tear
. there was only one small plane covered in tall grass. rewinding back to 1990 the place was buzzing with planes of all sizes and vistors.
The simple truth thieving scumbags do not want to face is that the money that should be chanelled to taking care of something is ending up in a private account- dont see the point of the official crying crocodile tears – who do they expect to take care of it – the 90 yea old geriatric who saying the country belongs to him does not give a stuff as long as he flies around like a housefly in and out to far away places like Singapore and China
why do we need an airport if we have no planes
How did these airports fall to pieces in the first place? All these airports were functioning properly during the Rhodesian days, even at the height of the bush war; only to fall into disrepair in peace times after you gukurahundis took over?
The problem with gukurahundis is that they dont know anything about maintenance. The see a property sparkling in the hands of a whiteman, they want it.
Once they have it, they think it will stay sparkling for ever, without maintennace. Check swimming pools in gukurahundi homes; check the gardens; check the roads. Even Chaplin, Ian Smith’s former High School in Gweru is in a sorry state.
They plant maize everwhere; even by the side-walks instead of beautifying with plants and flowers. Thats the gukurahundi mentality!!