Maravi

Zambians aren't lazy - NCC school principal

Zambians aren't lazy - NCC school principal
By Christopher Miti in Chipata and Fredrick Mwansa in Itezhi-te
Mon 09 Apr. 2012, 13:28 CAT

NATIONAL Council for Construction School principal Francis Mwape says it is not true that Zambian workers are lazy. During the closing ceremony of the Eastern Province road sub-sector provincial training workshop at Eastern Comfort Lodge on Thursday, Mwape said the word ‘lazy' was not respectful to the Zambian worker.

He said Zambia exported skilled bricklayers to Iraq and that the country also exported nurses to other countries, a sign that the Zambian worker was not lazy. Mwape cautioned contractors to work extremely hard.

He said most of the construction money was going to foreign contractors because they knew how to walk the talk.

"The background to this is that there was an Auditor General's report that highlighted a number of issues that were happening at the Road Development Agency and one of the issues that came up was that actually even if we are growing in the construction industry most of the construction companies that are undertaking works in the road sector are incompetent most of them are running away while others are leaving works that are not living up to the design by experts," he said.

And Eastern Province minister Charles Banda said it was surprising to note that while the PF government had increased the resource envelope for road infrastructure projects, over 60 per cent of the market share was still controlled by foreign contractors.

Banda said one of the functions of the National Council for Construction (NCC) was to empower small and medium-scale enterprises (SMES) in order to improve their performance as they participate in infrastructure development projects.

He said he was delighted to witness the occasion where over 50 local representatives of SMES had undergone a short intensive training covering modules which included preferential procurement based on statutory instrument number 36 of 2011, occupational health and safety and contract administration.

Banda, who was represented by provincial assistant secretary Peter Ngoma, said the construction sector played a very important role which went beyond its share of national output in the development strategy.

"Construction sector's capacity for employment creation and contribution to the national economic activities has been documented by many research institutions and government agencies all over the world. The situation in Zambia is not different and that is why the 2012 budget has a significant allocation for infrastructure development," he said.

Banda urged NCC to intensify training activities for SMES in order to make them competitive because the world was now a global village where Zambia had opened the market for outsiders.

He urged other skills development centres, colleges and vocational training centres countrywide to begin embracing road construction courses.

Banda said the SMES continued to face serious challenges in their quest for meaningful participation in the construction industry.

He said among the challenges were low access to capital, non-availability of dedicated skills development funds and unsustainable project packaging.

Labels: CONSTRUCTION, NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CONSTRUCTION

posted by MrK @ 1:33 PM