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Economist warns about African govts mismanaging CoST

Economist warns about African govts mismanaging CoST
By Mutale Kapekele
Tue 25 May 2010, 18:40 CAT

THE Construction Sector Transparency initiative (CoST) will not work as long as African governments remain champions for the project, a Malawian economist Khumbutso Banda has observed.

CoST is a World Bank and Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) funded project aimed at improving transparency in the construction sector. The CoST project is being piloted in seven countries, including Zambia and Malawi up to October this year.

Ministers in charge of the construction sector have been selected to lead the initiative as champions and the Zambian chapter is led by works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti. According to Banda, African governments were not ready to uphold transparency and stamp out corruption in the construction sector.

“African governments tolerate and encourage corruption as active participants and there is no way people like that can be committed to the CoST let alone lead the project as champions,” Banda said.

“For this initiative to work, the civil society has to actively participate and make their governments accountable for all transactions in the construction sector, they have to make them publish what they pay for the works done. The question is do we have CSO Civil Society Organisations that can effectively do that?”

She said the construction sector played a vital role in supporting social and economic development and yet it was consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt areas of economic activity.

Banda said the costs of corruption in public-sector construction projects extended far beyond increasing contract prices and it required people of high integrity to curb the vice.

“Corruption can hinder a nation's social and economic development at grass-roots level by undermining the rule of law and hindering the growth of strong and accountable institutions, on which sustained economic growth depends,” said Banda.

“Corruption can result in unnecessary, unsuitable, defective or dangerous projects, which are often subject to severe delays.

That is why initiatives such as the CoST are required to help us fight corruption in the construction sector. But for the project to be successful, we need the right people to lead the initiative. As it is, our governments have not even shown us how they intend to sustain the project after October when the pilots end.”

Labels: CONSTRUCTION, CoST, DFID

posted by MrK @ 1:39 AM