In an interview with The Zimbabwean last week, the president of CZI, Joseph Kanyekanye, said the current power situation had largely remained pathetic. It is now critical for the government to allocate more of the little power that is available to industry. At the moment the industry is very idle. Companies need at least 18 hours of uninterrupted power supply to improve productivity, he said.
Government had continued to offer promises that the power situation would improve, but nothing tangible was happening on the ground to improve the power situation he said. Zimbabwe has secured US$10 billion worth of investments for three
power projects with a combined output of over 5000 megawatts, but this has not improved the required power supply in the country.
The country is facing perennial power shortages as a result of less optimal performance at the power utility Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
Meanwhile, the CZI has compiled a report on Zimbabwes manufacturing sector survey that will detail the performance of the sector, which is an important indicator of the countrys economic performance.
The report will also reveal the various obstacles to improving productivity as well as offering solutions to the challenges.
The CZI Chief Executive Officer, Clifford Sileya, said the report was expected to be out in November this year.
The survey will exclusively be with specific issues affecting the sector in all the countrys 10 provinces where capacity utilization data will be provided. We are doing it region by region, instead of having one overall performance, said Sileya.
He added that Zimbabwes manufacturing sector survey comes at a time when industry is at risk of stagnation as a lot of hurdles are impeding productivity.
However, noted Sileya, some companies are registering some improvements in capacity utilization since the adoption of the multicurrency system last year.
Post published in: News