Times Of Swaziland: CEMENT PRICE HIKE INCREASES CONSTRUCTION COSTS

CEMENT PRICE HIKE INCREASES CONSTRUCTION COSTS
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Mhlengi Magongo on 22/06/2022 08:16:00


MBABANE – The recent hike on the unregulated price of cement has resulted to
an increase in the cost of construction services.
Contractors in the country mostly use Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) type of
cement which is widely available in the country. OPC is a type of cement that is
manufactured and used worldwide. It is widely used for all purposes including
concrete; which is when the OPC cement is mixed with aggregates and water,
concrete is widely used in the construction of buildings. The cost of purchasing
cement has increased two times in the past two quarters, which has resulted in
the cost of construction services to escalating exponentially. This was
mentioned by the director of one of the construction companies based in the
country.
Charge
The director said the hike in cement price has relatively forced them to
increase the charge of their services. He said this has resulted to a decrease
in the number of tenders and other services related to construction as client
feared being over charged. “We have lost clients and tenders because they
sometimes feel what we charge is high than what they expect which affects us
because the cost of purchasing the items needed has increased,” he said. The
director also mentioned that this have resulted to most construction companies
hiring cheap labour personnel as opposed to professionals who tend to charge
higher. “We now have to be strategic when hiring as it now cost more to
provide the service than the profit margins which are still stable,” he said.
Increased
The director also mentioned that cement is not the only construction product
which its prices had increased, he said almost all the product prices have
increased excluding that of river sand. He said it is now a challenge in their
sector because the price they charge for their services had not changed for the
past three years. “When we give our clients quotations, they are amended most
often because they think that we over charge them, yet we aligned it with the
cost of production,” he said. The Construction Industry Council (CIC) said
they do not regulate the price of products like cement as their duty is to
promote and develop the construction industry in Eswatini and also give priority
to Eswatini firms and companies. They said they regulate activities in the
construction industry through the appropriate institutions, Boards and other
authorities.
Competitive
“We provide data and the size and distribution of contractors operating within
the industry to promote research, development and the use of competitive local
materials and appropriate construction material,” mentions CIC. Director of
Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Mluleki Dlamini aforementioned to this
publication that the construction industry business segment occupies only three
per cent in the overall business segment of Eswatini. He said this is because
the costs of services had increase thus decreasing the number of people in need
of the services. Dlamini was speaking during the capacity building on
entrepreneurship development for MSME in the country at Sibane Hotel.