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Construction workers busy at the new Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board head office

Tinashe Makichi  Business Reporter
Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board’s four storey $12 million office complex is nearing completion with some of the offices to be let out to the private sector, an official has confirmed.TIMB chief executive Mr Andrew Matibiri yesterday told The Herald Business that construction was 90 percent done but funding still remained a challenge.

He said TIMB will let part of the building to interested tenants now that they have managed to construct two extra floors.

The board initially planned to invest $8, 5 million for the construction but the figure has since increased to $12 million due to the addition of two floors.

“When we started, the idea was to build the basement only but after making consultations with our engineers we ended up coming up with a four storey building,” said Mr Matibiri.

He said the idea to start the construction came up in 1990 but due to the lack of funding the project was put on hold and the board ended up using auction floors. Around 2010 TIMB started mobilising funds which enabled it to buy the land for the project.

Construction started in 2011 after the board secured some funding through mortgage finance.

More than 88 000 growers have registered compared to about 65 000 the same period last year forcing TIMB to require bigger working space.

“The issue of liquidity has been our biggest challenge since we have been using mortgage finance hence the reason why the project took long to complete,” he said.

“The location of the structure is strategic for a tobacco industry head office;” he said adding that building procedures and processes were done by the State Procurement Board.