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Andile Tshuma, Business Reporter
INDUSTRIALISTS have called for a reduction of electricity and water tariffs, which they said are the major cost drivers crippling their operations.

Speaking during a Proplastics Limited annual conference in Bulawayo on Wednesday, participants said a downward review of tariffs would bolster growth in the manufacturing sector. Proplastics chief executive officer, Mr Kudakwashe Chigiya, said the energy sector needs to streamline its tariff regime to support the productive sector.

“Operations are very expensive for us in industry primarily due to electricity and water. We primarily use electricity and water for our operations and it tends to be very costly,” he said.

“At the moment, Zimbabwe’s electricity costs about 11,6 cents per megawatt. However, the same amount of electricity will cost about 5,6 cents in Botswana.”

Other captains of industry also present at the conference shared the same sentiments. An engineer from a Gwanda-based irrigation company said they were struggling with the monthly electricity bill, which was their highest and tends to erode their profits.

Local authority representatives complained about rampant copper cable thefts and the high power cost and suggested adoption of solar as an alternative. They, however, noted that it was expensive to set up solar infrastructure.

Representatives from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa), engineering companies and rural district councils also said Government must intervene and ensure a fair tariff review for mutual benefit of both parties.

Mr Chigiya said his company had resorted to establishing their own water reservoirs as relying on water supplies from Harare City Council was costly.

“As a business, we have since built our own reservoirs but they are not always adequate. We still rely heavily on municipal water. However, the supply is erratic and it is costly for us,” he said.

The meeting stressed the importance of unity among local authorities and industry captains towards finding long lasting solutions that will enable both to thrive in an ailing economy.

Bulawayo City Council engineer, Mercy Ncube, blasted Proplastics for not investing in Bulawayo despite getting more business from the region.

“We support you, seek your service and use your products. You have been in business for the past 54 years yet you still do not have a plant in Bulawayo.
We need you to invest in the city not only to transport finished products,” she said.

In response, Mr Chigiya said the firm has no plans to set up a plant in the city anytime soon due to other commitments.

“We do not foresee ourselves putting up a plant in Bulawayo anytime soon. We already have commitments in Harare,” he said. – @andile_tshuma