Financial Gazette (Harare)
6 December 2008
Harare — A COMPANY contracted by the National Social Security Authority (NSS-A) and the Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) to develop a three-star hotel in Beitbridge has been forced to suspend civil works following the outbreak of cholera in the border town, The Fina-ncial Gazette heard this week.
A serious outbreak of the waterborne disease is affecting most regions of the country with more than 11,700 cases and 473 deaths having been recorded between Aug-ust and November 30, according to the World Health Organisation offi-ce in Harare.
Costain Zimbabwe, which is undertaking the massive hotel project on behalf of the pay-as-you-go NSSA pension scheme and the RTG, recorded seven cases of cholera at the site before resolving on November 26 to suspend civil works until the situation improves.
"A serious cholera outbreak has been reported in Beitbridge among other parts of the country and despite our best efforts in providing clean water and maintaining hygienic conditions at our labour camp, we have experienced seven cases of the disease to date," said a D. Martens, the company's technical services director in a letter to SDP Africa Consulting Engineers dated November 26 2008.
"In order to mitigate further cases and prevent potential loss of life, we have temporarily shut our labour camp and sent our labour on early leave until the situation improves. The situation will be reviewed when the project is in a position to resume work," he added.
Sources told The Financial Gazette this week that work on the hotel project might suffer serious delays due to the outbreak of cholera in the border town of Beitbridge.
Civil works were expected to be completed by the end of this month, but this is now unlikely since the cholera situation has remained critical in Beitbridge and in other parts of the country.
The hotel project is aimed for completion by 2010 when South Africa hosts the FIFA Soccer World Cup. A large traffic of tourists is expected to spill into Zimbabwe due to an anticipated shortage of accommodation in South Africa during the soccer showcase.
South African officials have already contracted the country's hospitality industry to provide 2000 hotel rooms for the 2010 World Cup as they grapple with the demand for accommodation. South Africa alone does not have the capacity to provide all rooms required by FIFA.
Martens also revealed in the letter that the project had been dogged by a number of constraints such as the shortages of fuel and the informal dollarisation of the Zim-babwean economy.
"We trust we have adequately informed you of the project status, the constraints and problems currently being experienced, which are affecting progress and which need to be addressed in order to move forward," he said.
Costain said suppliers were now demanding payment in either cash or in United States dollars, making it difficult for the contractor to move with speed.
"From the time of this letter, it is common knowledge that our economy has virtually dollarised and very little can be paid for in Zimbabwe dollars, particularly if it is not cash.
"This is a fundamental issue to be resolved and agreed upon, for the project to successfully proceed," reads part of the letter.
Work on the hotel is expected to cost the equivalent of US$12 million.
Under this project, NSSA will put up the hotel structure while RTG will manage the property.
Beitbridge town is one of the country's busiest border posts as it offers passage to and from Zimbabwe and South Africa with traffic going as far as Zambia, Malawi and the Democ-ratic Republic of Congo.
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