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Leroy Dzenga:Features Writer

With the prevailing talk of formulating home-grown solutions for local problems, a local man decided to literally build from the resources around him. After finishing his tertiary education in China, Blessing Marowa (32) felt he needed to come back to Zimbabwe and benefit his motherland with his expertise.

Upon return, attempts to get employment proved futile prompting him to dig into his repository of skills to survive. Coincidentally, his light bulb glowed when the country was experiencing a craze, people buying residential stands.

In an interview with The Herald, Marowa explained how he is formulating a low cost solution to the country’s housing problems.

“I did my university in China studying Structural Engineering. Despite learning abroad, I did not want to work in another country,” he said.

However, a job was not easy to come by over a year of trying.

“When efforts to get a job did not yield anything, I decided to start a project that was going to empower me and my community instead of waiting to get a job,” he said.

This is when he started a construction company, Launch-sky Precasting, which specialises in low-cost precast housing and walling.

They use panels of precast walls, loosely known as “durawalls”, to build houses.

“We saw that there are a lot of people who own residential stands but cannot afford to build and we came up with a solution for them,” Marowa said.

Marowa says the structures they build are in no way different from brick structures, only cheaper in price.

“How we work is that a client brings their plan, then we do the production of the concrete panels fitting with the decided structure,” he said.

He added, “Concrete panels are a mixture of superset cement (the cement with the highest tensile strength), washed riversand and quarry stone aggregate.”

Once these compounds are mixed they are poured into the concrete mixer.

“From then we feed them into the moulders where we give our panels a brick wall like shape,” he said.

From the moulders, the panels are channelled into a vibrating table giving them time to set and be strong.

“When the compaction process is done, the panels are moved into a shed where they are cured using water and natural conditions,” said Marowa, describing a processes that makes their panels equally as strong as bricks.

He claims that once erected, a building structure from prefabricated material is expected to last for about 30 years without maintenance work.

There has been a fair amount of scepticism on their venture with people questioning the durability and viability of the structures.

“Countries like Australia have been using prefabricated building material for a while. Although the material is slightly different, we have to make do with what is locally available,” Mr Marowa said.

He added that unlike bricks, the manufacturing of their precast panel does not involve environmental degradation.

“Bricks, which most people like, have led to a lot of open pits especially in Harare South and other areas. Our raw materials are sourced in a more environmentally friendly way,” he said.

He added, “Our buildings are strong; we use interlocking panels that are tightly fixed and they are difficult to break from the outside. One needs destruction equipment to remove the structure.”

They have been getting contracts from Government institutions and reputable organisations.

“So far we have done classroom blocks for Belvedere Primary. We also did the new UFIC offices at Fife Avenue, among the many projects we have done. This shows that our product is of legitimate quality if we manage to attract such high ranking institutions,” said Marowa.

They have been subcontracted to work on classroom blocks in Mozambique and Zambia.

Despite growing from a staff complement of four to 22 in three years, their journey has not been short of hurdles.

“Our main challenge was acquiring capital from banks. They do not entertain emerging businesses asking for loans,” Marowa said.

Marowa and three other colleagues had been laid off from a company called Kiambi Precasting.

“We bought some of their equipment and started running our own company,” said Marowa.

Raising the capital for the enabling equipment was a task for Marowa and company.

“We acquired the money from micro-finance institutions using our own vehicles as collateral,” Marowa said.

They say the struggles they faced have allowed them to understand the plight of their customers who may be facing financial challenges.

“Times are hard for most people in this country and we can build a house for them and then they pay over time using the money they were supposed to be paying rentals,” he said.

The structures are also meant to sustain harsh weather conditions.

“Before we go on site, we do soil assessment. When we do the panels we will be informed by results on how strong we make the panels,” said Marowa.

They even have a plan for wetlands where some residential stands are found.

“When we feel the soil type is bad we build a special foundation to be able to withstand the high moisture levels,” he said.

It takes around seven days to build a five bedroomed prefabricated structure at half the price that a brick structure costs.

Speaking on the housing situation in the country, Marowa said a solution was within reach.

“We have financial institutions who are doing mortgages but they have failed to solve the housing problem in the country because of the expensive rates,” he said.

He added that building societies are getting it wrong in using brick technology which is expensive.

“Government needs to come up with strategies which will help people own houses. And I believe prefabricated houses are the way to go,” he said.

He urged local authorities to relax their building by-laws.

“Local authorities and councils need to allow people to build using alternative materials from bricks, the world is progressing, so should they,” he said.

He hopes that the approval from authorities to use prefabricated material to build school classrooms will go a long way in instilling confidence.

“When the school authorities and the respective ministry find it fit for us to build classrooms it means that our structures meet the standard,” said Marowa.

People need to be alerted to the existence of an alternative building method.

“The public needs to be educated on the advantages of using prefabricated building materials being used in other countries.

Australia is country known for windy rains and cyclones but they use prefabricated building materials. This shows how reliable it is,” said Marowa. Housing problems in the country can be reduced through using prefabricated materials to build.

There are structures which have stood for decades built from precast or “durawall” material. Chindunduma High School in Mashonaland Central has been in existence since the colonial era.

But it is still intact with its prefabricated walls.

 

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