Information and Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa said the commissioning of the fibre optic had been rescheduled because of logistical and administrative issues. Originally we had targeted to commission the fibre optic cable this month but because of some administrative and logistical issues within the government, we have changed this to November. Funding for the project is not an issue as resources are available, he said.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti in April allocated US$6,2 million to the ICT ministry to implement the fibre optic link project. Minister Chamisa said work was in progress as Government had engaged a contractor to undertake the project. Work is in progress with the trenching for the optic cable having already begun. We have two teams, one from Harare and the other from Mutare, who are working on the trenches and hopefully very soon they will be done with the trenching exercise, he said. Minister Chamisa said efforts were being made to ensure that the country was also linked to key neighbouring countries, adding that Zimbabwe had recently been connected to Botswana.
We are also making efforts to link with our key neighbours in the region and plans are in the pipeline to connect the country with South Africa through another fibre optic project in Beitbridge. Already Zimbabwe is linked with Botswana through a Powertel optic cable. In his 2010 national budget presentation, Minister Biti said ICTs were the backbone of the economy hence the need for the country to be connected to the undersea cable. It is hoped that the undersea cable along Africas east coast would improve Zimbabwes Internet connectivity once connected.
Post published in: News