Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Walter Muchinguri
20 October 2009
Harare — DESPITE the positive developments in the economy that has seen an improvement in some sectors, the construction industry in the country is still depressed.
Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe chief executive, Mr Martin Chingaira said that operators in the industry were barely managing to survive with most opting to sell assets.
"Players in this sector have been identifying non-essential and outdated plant and equipment to dispose as a way of keeping afloat in the hope that the situation would get better.
"There is a lot of optimism that the industry will come alive again hence there is no hesitation to dispose of some of these assets," he said.
He was however quick to point out that despite this exercise, players in the industry were ready to take on jobs that might come their way, he said.
"The strength of the industry is in numbers, if there is a job that cannot be tackled by one company other companies within the industry are ready to come and assist to complete the job," he said.
Mr Chingaira said that the main source of contracts has been affected by the economic downturn leaving them in a precarious position.
"On the public sector side we relied heavily on Government projects but due to the cash constraints that Government is facing there are no projects that are being embarked on at the moment.
"The few projects that involve Government are those that have been identified by foreign companies who have also sourced their own funding and want nothing to do with the local construction companies.
"On the private sector side we have in the past relied on pension funds but they have also been facing cash constraints as they are still to get meaningful contributions in United States dollars," he said.
He called on Government to assist by encouraging foreign companies it enters projects with to at consider partnering local firms in the implementation of such projects.
As a local industry he said they were keen on taking up the Public Private Partnership, the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer or the Build Operate and Transfer initiatives although sourcing the funds to implement such projects was still a sticking point.
On its part Government has promised to issue implementers of such initiatives with sovereign guarantees that ensure that agreements for such initiatives are honoured to the end.
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