Lloyd Mutungamiri
11 October 2008
Reconstruction work at the National Sports Stadium has been hit by labour shortage, as disgruntled contract workers have not been reporting for duty in protest over unpaid wages, Standardsport has learnt.
The giant facility, which was constructed by the Chinese government and opened its gates to the public in 1987, was closed for repair work in November 2006, with authorities indicating the 60 000-seater stadium would be shut down for 20 months.
That means the stadium had been scheduled for re-opening two months ago, but Standardsport has since established the Chinese, who are undertaking the renovations through a US$5,8million grant, still need at least seven more months to complete the refurbishment. The delay is attributed to a combination of many factors, which include an acute shortage of manpower and the unavailability of imported material.
Engineer Tendai Chiwanza, who is overseeing the repairs, told Standardsport during a tour of the dilapidated complex last week, local contract workers complementing the Chinese artisans had not been reporting for work after going two weeks without pay.
Although Chiwanza was upbeat about work-in-progress, the installation of an impressive three-colour pixel LED scoreboard, for instance, a Chinese engineer at the site told Standardsport the stadium would not be opening anytime soon.
"We are expecting to complete the renovations by the end of the year, although laying the (synthetic) athletics track can take longer, as this cannot be done during the rainy season," Chiwanza said. "Again, work here has been hit by a terrible brain drain; it is really difficult to find local construction workers because the (construction) industry has been badly affected by developments in South Africa, where there is massive construction in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup."
Chiwanza said matters had been worsened after the government's failure to pay the contract workers during the past two weeks.
"The workers have simply stayed away after going for two weeks without getting paid mostly due to the unavailability of cash at the banks," Chiwanza said. "But the Chinese have a bigger workforce here now, and hopefully, this will plug the gap left by locals, who have sought greener pastures in South Africa. But we expect the stadium to be available for use again, early next year."
Standardsport, meanwhile, spoke to a Chinese artisan at the stadium, who said Beijing was still to approve the budget for the purchase of the synthetic athletics track. He could not speak officially, but said with the slow pace of work, which has been compounded by the shortage of material -- which has to be brought in from China -- at least seven more months were needed before the stadium could be opened to the public.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Zimbabwe Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
