Players in the construction industry in Midlands province have agreed to pool their resources together and form a consortium of contractors aimed at winning mega local tenders, often awarded to regional and international companies.
BY STEPHEN CHADENGA
Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association Midlands chapter secretary-general, Fordson Ndlovu said the government and the private sector should favour indigenous construction players, as they have the country’s economic interests at heart.
“We have to form a consortium if we are to clinch big projects that are usually given to regional and international companies,” he said at the association’s provincial meeting in Gweru last week.
“If we pull in one direction and put our machinery and human capital together, we can have one voice and win these big construction deals hence the need for a consortium.”
Ndlovu, the managing director of Fordson Construction, said there was need to promote local contractors in line with the ZimAsset cluster on infrastructural development for economic development.
Local contractors have often cried foul that there was a misconception that they provide sub-standard services, hence, the awarding of multi-million dollar tenders to regional and international companies.
Some of the big projects, which had potential to benefit local construction players in the province, include the $14 million mega shopping mall under construction opposite the Zimbabwe Military Academy along Bulawayo road, funded by the Zimbabwe Electricity Industry Pension Fund, and the $6,5 million Zanu PF conference centre built four years ago by the Chinese.
