Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
UNIVERSITIES and colleges will now take charge of infrastructural projects at their institutions as opposed to Government bringing in the private sector to do the works.
Government says private players were milking the State in construction projects which stalled affecting the development of higher and tertiary institutions.
For example, the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has been synonymous with hanging cranes and incomplete buildings as Government coffers could not sustain construction works.
As Government implements new construction models, a contractor whose equipment has been hanging at Nust for more than a decade, has started removing it.
Nust revealed that development yesterday through a statement posted on its social media platforms.
“Contractors who had been appointed by the Government for the construction of the Nust Campus Services Centre have started decommissioning, paving the way for new partners to invest in the completion of the business complex,” posted the university on Facebook.
Nust acting communication and marketing director Mr Thabani Mpofu said the decommissioning should see Nust progressing with infrastructure development.
“This is a welcome development because it paves way for us to engage new investors and complete infrastructural development at Nust. This is also in line with our 2020 strategic plan as infrastructural development is one of our five top priorities,” said Mr Mpofu.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development Minister Professor Amon Murwira said developments at Nust are in line with Government thrust.
“The universities are taking over the construction of their projects such as the innovation hubs. There is not going to be any new contractor because we don’t have money to give to the external contractors any more. So, because we have engineers, we are going to build buildings on our own,” said Prof Murwira.
He said the construction of innovation hubs was an eye opener for the Ministry not to engage private players on projects that they can do on their own.
“We were quoted US$220 million to construct the University of Zimbabwe innovation hub. And do you know how much we built it for? We built it for ZW$40 million. Because we can build things on our own and we don’t want liability as we might be failing to pay for some of these things, so it’s better that we build on our own without too much court cases,” he said.
Prof Murwira said Government was being practical and implementing cost-cutting measures as witnessed by the Ministry’s refurbishment of Hillside Teachers’ College hostel that burnt down last year without contracting the private sector. — -@nqotshili
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