Online Reporter
OUR country has been under construction since 2018/2019.
Schools, clinics, hospitals, roads, bridges, offices, business and residential complexes are popping up in every direction. Builders and building contractors are in the money. Suppliers, such as hardware outlets and brick makers that have more efficient, modern technologies to produce high-quality bricks at decent prices, are doing really well as well.
Demand for steel has rocketed. Happily for the economy, the demand started rising just as Dinson Iron and Steel Company’s Manhize factory started operations. The continent’s largest integrated steelworks is producing more than enough to meet local demand, so it is now exporting.
Demand for cement has risen sharply as well, but unfortunately for the economy, manufacturers were ill-prepared to meet it. Machinery breakdowns and wider operational issues at some major producers, including Khaya, have worsened the situation, resulting in an acute shortage of the building material.
From an average $11 per 50kg bag, the price of cement has risen to $17 each.
This is slowing down construction activity across the country as developers struggle not only amid the exponential rise in cement costs but also the scarcity of the product.
This is happening some 20 months after the Government imposed restrictions on cement imports as local output improved.
Authorities have had to respond once again, this time by reinstating the restrictions, as we quote Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Raj Modi as saying elsewhere in this issue today.
“I am aware of the problem that we are facing at the moment in the market. I also went to buy cement in Bulawayo, and they said $17,” he said.
“We discussed this issue with my chief director, and they told me that there is a backlog at the border. So, that is what is delaying them. Some people imported the cement, but it is still at the border; they have not yet been cleared. At the moment, there is a shortage of clinker used for the manufacturing of cement, and there is also a breakdown in the machinery. So, at the moment, only PPC is working, and the demand is so high that PPC cannot supply enough to the market.”
The Government has announced corrective measures, whose results we expect to see as soon as possible in the recovery of cement inventories, softening of its price and construction activity getting back up once again.
However, reopening borders for cement importation is unsustainable for an economy such as ours, which has a strong manufacturing basis. We implore PPC, Sino Zimbabwe Cement and Khaya Cement to sort their issues as soon as yesterday so that the value chain gets back to normal more sustainably.
We, too, cannot wait to see Huaxin Cement’s Chegutu plant starting operations by March next year. Owned by the 118-year-old Chinese company of the same name, the factory should usher in the competition and experience that the market needs.
