The National Council for Construction is finalising Statutory Instruments formulated to regulate the construction sector and provide legal backing for the enforcement of the provisions of the National Council for Construction Act number 10 of 2020.
Council Board Chairperson, Vitalis Mooya, said the NCC is currently working with the Ministry of Justice to formulate four Statutory Instruments (SIs) for the registration of contractors, manufacturers and suppliers as well as regulation relating to subcontracting and joint ventures.
“We came up with a draft SI and we are here to give it legal backing. We have lawyers from the Ministry of Justice to help us and this draft SI was all agreed on by all the stakeholders in the construction sector,” Mr Mooya said at a workshop with stakeholders to finalise the Sis.
He said the SI on sub-contracting and joint ventures will compel foreign contractors to sub-contract local contractors in their projects and enter into joint ventures with the local contractors.
Mr Mooya added that the country can only achieve meaningful development through the involvement of local contractors in the construction sector.
“You cannot develop the country if you rely on foreign contractors. Hence these SIs are going to help us to come up with mechanisms whereby these Zambian contractors will work with foreign contractors,” he added.
And National Council for Construction Executive Director, Ernest Nshindano, said the council is ready to enforce the provisions of the SIs once they are signed by the Minister.
Mr Nshindano added that the council management is ready to enforce the law as regulators of the sector
Meanwhile, National Association for Medium and Small-Scale Contractors President, Edgar Siakachoma, said the SIs will enable members of his association to participate in construction projects.
Mr. Siakachoma said the sub-contracting and joint ventures SI in particular will help build capacity in small contractors through knowledge transfer.
“We are happy that no contractor will undertake works without subcontracting, once this act is in force. So, we will see a lot of small contractors being helped by these big contractors,” he said
The National Council for Construction Act number 10 of 2020 has not been enforceable as it lacked the legal backing to enforce it.
They should also come up with a building code, so that all housing units are up to standards.
Too much chipantepante and dogs-breakfast in housing construction!
Great move. It’s long overdue. There’s no way a foreign entity can go to a country and put up a structure without using locals on the contractual side.
About time. You need to set very high standards but at the same time you need to employ highly trained people to police those who aim to defraud by providing shoddy work.
Indeed this should weed out tenderpreneurs who never went to school but are engaged in ‘construction’ of roads through guess work speaking about compacting, back filling etc when the only qualification is a carder with connections. Can they also look at the issuance of ‘bonds’ by insurance companies for construction and even audit backwards and see how they shall flee
Good Move, How does one get a copy of the SI draft.