adminPanashe Chikonyora
Local construction firm Exodus and Company says it has invested $30 million for its 20 kilometre (km) stretch of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road reconstruction project.
The company expects to complete the stretch by the end of this year.
In an interview with the Herald Finance and Business on the sidelines of its ISO certification by the Standard Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) on Wednesday, Exodus and Company chief executive Progress Mambo said:
“Currently we are working on the 20km stretch that we got from the Government for the reconstruction of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge road.
“We have so far invested more than Z$30 million on site establishment, detour construction and preliminary works on the main road.
“Our plan is to complete the reconstruction of the 20km by the end of December 2020.”
Exodus and Company is one of the five contractors that Government assigned to undertake roadworks on the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway, and released $150 million for the project.
This will be the company’s major road reconstruction project after it broadened its scope and ventured into infrastructure development projects in 2016.
Exodus and Company has constructed and rehabilitated more than 100km of national and local authorities’ roads throughout the country.
Besides its Madokero, Mabvazuva housing development projects and a three-storey block of flats for the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) in Beitbridge, which is currently under construction, the company has done an 11-kilometre road rehabilitation in Mvurwi, Gurve Mahove area, 3km road reconstruction and reseal in Bindura highway and another three and a half reconstruction of the Bindura, Matepatepa road. In Kadoma it did 10 of its city roads and is currently carrying out a reconstruction programme in Chimanimani after the damage done by Cyclone Idai.
Meanwhile, the certification event saw the construction company receiving two ISO certificates; ISO-14001 an Environmental Management System certification and ISO 9001 which is a Quality Management System certification.
Mr Mambo welcomed the certification and said it meant a lot to Exodus and Company as it helped in instilling discipline in the company’s conduct to make sure it remains sustainable and viable in improving the country’s standards.
“It’s an international recognised certification so when we want to get business outside the country we stand a better chance and it gives us certain discipline in the company to comply with certain obligations which are imposed by the certification, by the way the certification is for three years and during the three year period the Standard Association of Zimbabwe will be carrying out surveillance audits to make sure we are complying with the obligations that are required out of the certification.
“Besides giving us discipline as we said, the standards themselves define how an organisation should operate from the top to the bottom so it is a leadership oriented kind of management practice where company leadership is supposed to take the lead and set the tone from the top and in our case we are saying setting the tone from the top in terms of quality, the tone from the top in terms of how we interact with the environment to make sure we avoid hazards that may cause harm to the environment,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Exodus and Company boss said the firm is pursuing a third certification — ISO-45001 for occupational health and safety — as it seeks to preserve scarce resources and uphold the health and safety of its staff.
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) develops best practice standards for all sectors of the economy in any part of the world.
Online Reporter