Maravi

Simbao warns contractors over advance payments

Simbao warns contractors over advance payments
By Nomusa Michelo
Saturday December 01, 2007 [03:00]

WORKS and supply minister Kapembwa Simbao has warned contractors and consultants that the ministry will no longer give advance payments on contracts beginning next year. During the National Council for Construction (NCC) Indaba held at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre (MICC) yesterday, Simbao said contractors and consultants should have the necessary financial resources to meet their contract obligations. He also said the only relationship that will exist between contractors and the government was performance.

“The year 2008 is going to be a different year because the only relationship that will be important between the Ministry of Works and Supply and the contractors and consultants will be performance,” he said.

Simbao said contractors and consultants who were not willing to meet expected standards should not even be in the sector. He also said the ministry will very sparingly give advance payment because in many cases, contractors and consultants did not even do the work they were paid for. Simbao said the government was not prepared to lose large amounts of money because of shoddy work and defaulting contractors. Simbao also said infrastructure development was a critical component for the country to develop.

And Lafarge Zambia managing director Tom Ehrhart said the cement shortage in the country had been as a result of increased construction in the mining sector and industry as well as increase in infrastructure development in the region.

He said Lafarge Zambia was doing everything possible to meet the cement demand on the market.

Ehrhart said with the construction of the company’s Tukule project at Chilanga, it was expected the cement shortage would be addressed by the middle of next year. He also said the coming on board of other cement producing companies would help to address the cement shortage.

And NCC executive director Dr Sylvester Mashamba in his presentation on ‘The shape of the Construction Industry in Zambia’ said one of the challenges in the country’s construction industry was the high local debt to road consultants and contractors, which is estimated at K380 billion.

Labels: CEMENT, CONTRACTORS, CORRUPTION, KAPEMBWA SIMBAO, MINISTRY OF WORKS AND SUPPLY

posted by MrK @ 3:24 AM