Govt requires US$40 million to complete 104 buildings

GOVERNMENT requires US$40 million to complete 104 buildings that are nearing completion amid audit revelations that it was losing millions of dollars as building material at some construction sites has been lying idle for years while some has been left to rot and expire, Sunday News reported.

In a telephone interview on Thursday last week, Public Works Minister Gabuza Joel Gabbuza told the Sunday News that his ministry required US$40 million to complete 104 identified projects out of more than 550 Government buildings that are on various stages of completion.

He said construction work was stalled by lack of financial resources as they received almost nothing from Treasury in the 2012 budget. He urged Finance Minister Tendai Biti to release money for the completion of the buildings in 2013.

Minister Gabbuza said an audit done by his ministry revealed that there were a lot of building materials lying idle with people helping themselves to some of them while others were rotting or being eaten away by termites. He also said Government was overburdening itself by starting new construction projects without finishing the old ones.

Minister Gabbuza said as a result Government was losing millions of dollars each year in building materials instead of completing all the buildings that were almost through before starting new projects.

"We have over 550 construction projects countrywide that are at different stages of completion but of those, we have identified 104 that are almost complete and require small amounts.

"Those 104 are the ones that require a total of US$40 million to complete and we are saying once we complete those, we start on new projects.

"The ministry has done an audit of every project and the results were not encouraging. It was discovered that some materials were lying idle and rotting at some sites. People have been helping themselves to the building material while on other sites termites have eaten away most of the building material that has been lying neglected.

"There are piles of cement that have expired because they have outlived their use-by dates and they are no longer useful pushing the cash-strapped Government into yet another expense. We have construction projects that require very small amounts such as Chivi, Nkayi and Binga registry buildings, Mpilo Hospital mortuary and chapel and Hwange clinic whose completion has been stalled by electric cables that cost almost US$2 000 as well as some other buildings in Kariba," Minister Gabbuza said.

He added that the thrust was, therefore, to complete the projects that were already nearing completion and reiterated the need for Treasury to release funds for that purpose.

Minister Gabbuza said Matabeleland presented the most difficult challenge in terms of incomplete buildings, adding that it was in that region where most building materials were rotting, while some of the projects that were started years ago were still incomplete.

More than 50 Government houses that were started years back in Beitbridge are still not complete and some of the building material on site is rotting while those that have been partly roofed have their roofs collapsing. There are concerted calls on Government to expedite the completion of the houses to solve the problem of accommodation for civil servants some of whom are staying in offices.