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Midlands Correspondent
Construction of a $2,5 million Shurugwi Town mall will commence soon after a false start last year due to funding constraints. Initial plans were halted after the contractor, Inducto-Serve Construction, could not provide enough capital to undertake the massive project. Shurugwi Town Council signed a public-private investment deal in 2013 with the South Africa-based construction company with operations in Zimbabwe, for the building of the three-storey shopping mall, which is set to change the face of the mining town.

Tsungai Makore, the council chairman told Chronicle Business that construction of the project had resumed with the land earmarked for the project undergoing landscaping.

“The contractor is now back on site and what’s now taking place is the levelling of the site since it’s located on a gradient. “Everything being equal the project is set to take between 9 to 12 months to be completed, which was the initial timeframe anyway,” said Makore.

“At the moment landscaping is in progress and once that has been done the construction process starts.” Makore said he was confident that the project will be a precursor to more investments, which will come to the mining town especially when the Unki Mines housing project is completed.

Anglo-Plats’ Unki Mines committed $80 million for the construction of over 950 housing units for its workforce, which is expected to bring on board some economic activity in the sleepy town.

Infrastructural developments in Shurugwi have been attributed mainly to the presence of ailing ferrochrome processor, Zimasco which owns the major amenities.

However, owing to viability challenges Zimasco has applied for judicial management and handed over most amenities such as schools, hospitals and clinics among others to the town council.