Zimbabwe asks Chinese contractors to expedite new parliament building construction

The Parliament of Zimbabwe has written to Chinese contractors to expedite commencement of construction of a new parliament building in the outskirts of Harare.

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda told a press conference Wednesday that the Chinese contractors had planned to start construction of the new parliament building in December after giving the Zimbabwe government time to put the necessary water, roads and power infrastructure.

“We have written to the contractor to say that now that we are going to complete the necessary infrastructure by end of June, they should bring forward their construction date and I would say around August they can start actual construction of the parliament building,” Mudenda said.

China offered Zimbabwe a grant for the construction of a new parliament building in 2015.

In September last year, China released the first tranche of 46 million U.S. dollars for the construction of the new building.

The new 650-seat parliament building will replace the current building that has become increasingly small and crowded for parliamentary business.

There is space shortage in the current parliament building that was constructed during the colonial era, forcing legislators to sometimes conduct business while standing in aisles.

The current parliament can only cater for 120 legislators and yet there are 350 Members of Parliament in the current eighth parliament. Enditem

Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh

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