Govt payment halt hamstrings contractors

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

The suspension of payments by the government last year to curb inflation and depreciation of the ZWL$ has destroyed contractors amid indications that several players closed shop, Business Times has learnt.

The Treasury’s halt in payments has caused many contractors to abandon the projects that they were carrying out.

Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association senior vice president Tinashe Manzungu told Business Times that there was a need to do the balancing act to ensure projects are not stopped at the same time controlling inflation.

“As contractors, we have had serious challenges when the government stopped paying us when it wanted to deal with the value for money aspect.

“It took us to a dead end, for example, you are doing a road and we are about to do your tarmac and you don’t get paid. This has dealt a huge blow to many companies as some failed to recover and some are still struggling following that abrupt payment stoppage,” Manzungu said.

He said some contractors did have money to continue with the projects and even if the payments were resumed many failed to recover as the money was wiped out by inflation.

“When you stop and rain comes, the gravel will be washed away. The government will not like that as it will demand proper work from you. These have been the challenges and some of our members were affected,” he said.

Manzungu said the contractors had not been doing well because they did not finish projects due to high exchange rate issues and the halting of payments for a period.

“What comes out is that someone is failing to do a project, when that happens the government will say these contractors failed to complete the project and will be blacklisted but some will fail because the money was eroded when the payments were halted,” he said.

The contractors have engaged the Treasury over the issue and have reached reasonable stability.

He said the contractors would continue to lobby and engage to build the country we want.

The ZBCA boss said through engagements with the government there is a bit of stability as contractors are now bidding accordingly.

Infrastructure development is key to economic development and will help to achieve an upper-middle-income economy.

Manzungu said the government presented a lot of opportunities for local contractors.

“The government is so much biased towards the local contractors, which is a plus we should be celebrating. We have been given the opportunity and we are doing it, just see Beitbridge Road it is just fantastic.

“There are other six airports that are supposed to be developed and these are opportunities that the locals can grab,” Manzungu said.

“In this construction boom, the government is pumping in some cash for infrastructure development. The construction of housing through the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities has been a boom.

“The objective has been to supply not less than 220 000 houses by 2025,” he said.

Chinese contractors have subcontracted the locals on airports and Hwange unit 7 and 8 expansion.

The construction sector has been rocked by corruption, especially at the tendering stage.

Manzungu said there should be continuous engagements with the government and the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.

“We need to have continuous improvements in what we do so that we close the gaps of corruption.

“Previously, we had an engineer who went to school but he had to reignite that engineering lesson to become a business.

“That is what the government is doing through the incubation hubs.

“The other way is through other workshops that the building constructions associations are doing, for example, Zimbabwe building contractors association,” Manzungu said.

He said once the contractors model youths into entrepreneurs, this would help people not to enter into shoddy deals.

It is believed that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission is handling over 100 cases of corruption in the tendering system.

The builders’ contractors said there is no need to bribe someone, as one needs to put the file correctly.

“This will ensure your business will stand the taste of time, many tender businesses properly don’t involve themselves in corrupt activities.

“If one who is involved in corrupt activities dies, the business will fall,” he said

Recently, the government blacklisted 13 contractors for fuelling illegal parallel market activities as it moves to stabilise the local currency and contain inflation.

The blacklisting of these companies, the second in five months, comes after the Financial Intelligence Unit exposed the entities for unlawful conduct.

The blacklisted companies are Casha Designs (Pvt) Ltd, Re-net Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, Malfran Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Difflock Construction (Pvt) Ltd, Staman Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Guide Marketing (Pvt) Ltd, Nodship Investments Pvt Ltd, and Infinity Hire Pvt Ltd.

Others include Nomalanga Marketing Pvt Ltd, Gift Mwayers t/a Mwayera Transport Pvt Ltd, Mukota Haulage and Buses, Ofixmore Marketing Pvt Ltd and Blecia Investments.