adminIn a recent interview, Minister Gabbuza said Government would not start any new projects but concentrate on the existing ones.
“We realised that there are some projects and materials which have been dormant for the past 15 years and we are saying to Treasury we need money to finish off these projects rather than starting up new projects every year,” said Minister Gabbuza.
He said in order to effectively implement them, the 550 projects under the PSIP had been divided into three categories.
The first priority being projects with a socio-economic impact which are already at completion level and have building material which is likely to deteriorate if kept for a long time. Such projects include health institutions, universities halls of residence, and government complexes.
The second category are projects that require a substantial amount of money to be finished while the third priority are projects which are in their infancy like at foundation level.
Minister Gabbuza said most of the projects were being hampered by lack of funding and labour turnover that had seen most of the technicians and architects in the ministry looking for greener pastures across the country and beyond.
“It is sad that most of our projects don’t get the continuous flow of funding and as a result most engineers and architects end up leaving the ministry in search of better job opportunities,” he said.
“Currently, the ministry is operating with only two architects, out of the initial 30 that were originally employed and this is a setback as the two cannot be stretched to cater for all projects nationwide. As a result, we end up subcontracting some of the projects and this means coughing up more money as it involves private consultancy.”
Minister Gabbuza urged banks to extend lines of credit to facilitate growth of the construction industry as local contractors no longer have the capacity to complete projects.
“We have often had to resort to outside contractors because most of the local contractors are failing to finish projects due to inadequate funds. I believe that banks should alleviate the situation by extending lines of credit to facilitate the revival of distressed local contractors across the country.”
He said the ministry is working on constructing halls of residence in all the state universities that include the University of Zimbabwe, Lupane State University, Midlands State University, Masvingo, Chinhoyi and Bindura.
Each of the projects requires at least $8 million.
Substantial progress has already been made at the University of Zimbabwe, the Harare International Airport, Mpilo and Parirenyatwa central hospitals and some district hospitals projects.
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter