Almot Maqolo, Staff Writer 
PLAYERS in the construction industry are pushing for an increase in budget allocation from the current two percent to at least 10 percent to unlock the sector’s full potential.
Overall spending towards infrastructure, including devolution, for 2024 amounts to ZWL$10 trillion, comprising fiscal resources of ZWL$8,1 trillion, statutory and other resources of at least ZWL$1,4 trillion, development partner support of ZWL$189,9 billion, and loans of ZWL$322,2 billion.
Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA) president Tinashe Manzungu told The Financial Gazette that resource allocation through the pillar of infrastructure is supposed to be 10 percent.
Tinashe Manzungu
“We have not managed to get that,” he said.
“We end up doing infrastructure projects that are meant to be done by local authorities with the same amount. At the same time, with the domestic currency that we have, we are also still trying to build capacity on it.”
Construction is typically the first sector to suffer during economic declines and the last to recover.
“Definitely, it is a challenge now. So for us then to have the Zimbabwe that we want by 2030, we have to build on whatever we have for us to see us getting to between three percent and five percent at the same time in terms of resource allocation,” Manzungu added.
A major obstacle hindering local businesses’ efforts to drive high volume sales has been the comparatively smaller domestic market which calls for export-oriented strategies to broaden the customer base.
Experts indicate that Zimbabwe is experiencing an annual funding shortfall of US$1,6 billion until 2032 to meet its economic infrastructure financing needs, as current government allocations only cover 20 percent of the required US$2 billion, leaving an 80 percent funding gap.
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw
