Sharing cake with locals way to go

THE announcement by Zimbabwe Bui lding Contractors Association (ZBCA) president Mr Obert Sibanda that the company working on the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare Highway has agreed to parcel out 40 percent of the work to local contractors made sweet music.

Chinese firm, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) will undertake the refurbishment of the road, in one of the major developmental projects which will tick more boxes on the dashboard of the country’s economic blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset), which speaks of employment creation and infrastructural development, among others. In fact, the road is the busiest in Southern Africa as it links all commercial traffic from as far as Democratic Republic of Congo to South Africa.

Last year the Government signed aConcessionAgreement and Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) framework with Geiger International and the project is valued at about $1 billion. The stretch is about 600km.

“As you are aware there is a contractor who was contracted by the financier, Geiger International to work on the Harare-Chirundu Road. We had negotiations with representatives of the main contractor to involve local contractors and they agreed in principle to reserve 40 percent of the work to locals but we are still to get clarity on what exactly that percentage will constitute of.”

He said ZBCA would ensure that tenders would be awarded to deserving bidders.

“We are, however, going to ensure that proper channels and transparency is applied in the selection of local contractors. Those that will be shortlisted shouldn’t be suppliers but should be ready to do the actual construction work and we have already engaged the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development representatives of the contractor to that effect,” Mr Sibanda said.

TransportandInfrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo is on record as saying 300 000 jobs would be created through employing a raft of measures, including using local and international experts to supervise and inspect the dualisation highway for it to meet regional and international standards.

The creation of employment for locals will further boost economic activities in areas along the highway. Apart from reserving some jobs for local companies, we believe procurement of raw materials should also be done locally, so that the project boosts Zimbabwean industries and oils economic activities across board.