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Business Reporter
THE Construction Industry Federation of Zimbabwe (CIFOZ) says 2022 has been a good year for players in the construction industry largely due to the supportive and transformative policies of the Government.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19, construction industry players were seriously contained by the series of national lockdowns instituted to contain the respiratory disease.
CIFOZ president Mr Martin Chingaira said in an interview that following the easing of national lockdowns, coupled with supportive policies like the awarding of construction tenders to local players for major Government projects, the sector was on a rebound.
At present, he said the construction industry was operating at 30 percent capacity.
“This year has been a good year for the construction industry due to the supportive policies and transformative policies adopted by the Government.
“Tenders on infrastructural development by the Government are being awarded to local contractors and coupled with the transformative (policy) thrust the Second Republic has embarked on, there is a lot of construction taking place on infrastructures such as roads and housing.
“The sector is now on a rebound operating at 30 percent after two years of stagnation due to the national lockdowns induced by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
In line with National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) and Vision 2030, the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa envisages the attainment of an upper middle-income society by 2030.
It is against this background that the Government came up with infrastructural development projects such as the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme to construct and rehabilitate the country’s road network for optimal economic growth and development.
For example, under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP), the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway, one of the country’s busiest trunk roads, has undergone major upgrades to turn it into a modern road.
So far, more than 370 kilometres have been opened to traffic as the rehabilitation and expansion of the road and many others across the country continue.
The Government carries on to upgrade Zimbabwe’s roads under ERRP to facilitate trade as well as reducing road carnage.
Government has spent over $2,5 billion on infrastructure projects, which are key enablers to the achievement of targets set under Vision 2030. This was said by President Mnangagwa while presenting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) and officially opening the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament recently.
The President said the soon to be completed Hwange 7 and 8 Thermal Power Project, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Expansion, borehole rehabilitation and drilling, and the now completed new Parliament Building were some of the key projects implemented by the Government.
“Government through the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development has rolled out the ERRP our members are involved in, ultimately improving our operational capacity.
“The good thing has also been that the Government on all its infrastructural development programmes, be they housing, dam or road construction projects, has adopted the tendering system,” said Mr Chingaira.
“One good thing with the tendering system is that local contractors, if they meet all the requirements to qualify for the project they can also bid… a winner would (then) be selected among domestic contractors.
“Foreign contractors are only coming in to participate in the tenders where the Government seeks investors to fund the infrastructural projects. So, really, 2022 has been a good year for us.”
Going forward it is hoped that infrastructure development would be accelerated under President Mnangagwa’s administration as the country targets to achieve the national vision of an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.
Other key infrastructure projects such as the Gwayi-Shangani Dam in Matabeleland North Province are being developed and the investment from which local contractors are participating, is now 50 percent complete.
Once completed, the massive water reservoir will go a long way in propelling sustainable economic growth and development through supporting projects such as irrigation around the Gwayi area, tourism and recreational facilities as well as supplying water to Bulawayo, which presently experiences perennial water woes.
Further, the Government has expended significant resources towards other dam construction projects such as the Marovanyati Dam, walling of Causeway Dam and various educational, health institutions and public administration facilities across the country.
“As a result of the transformative policies by the Government, we are also seeing a lot of housing development projects being pursued by both the public and private sectors.
We are also benefiting a long way as we always say that the growth of any company is determined by its activities, so when we are getting the tenders our sector is being capacitated,” said Mr Chingaira.
In the 2023 national budget statement presented last month, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said the selection of projects targeted for implementation next year draws from NDS1 collection of projects, with focus on on-going and stalled projects.
In September this year, the country held its inaugural infrastructure summit in Victoria Falls and brought together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, development partners and the construction industry, seeking to address bottlenecks affecting infrastructure delivery in Zimbabwe including crowding in private sector investments.
“Benefiting from the outcomes of the summit and other inputs from stakeholders, the 2023 Budget will institute measures that will address the losses and waste in public infrastructure investments,” said Prof Ncube.
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