National Construction Industry Council pounces on Chinese-owned construction site over non-compliance

* The probe revealed a litany of violations, including failure to obtain necessary permits

* As well as ignoring environmental impact assessments, and exploiting workers

By Leonard Masauli, MANA

National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) has pounced on a Chinese-owned construction site, over noncompliance orders and breach of laws related to construction.

The Chinese national is reportedly constructing warehouse and offices at the site which is along the Bypass road in Lilongwe. However, NCIC said the Chinese national commenced his construction works without their knowledge and that he neither has a contractor on site nor a consultant, but also using burnt bricks which are not environmentally friendly.

NCIC Corporate Affairs Officer, Lyford Gideon said yesterday that the country operates under the rule of law and demands that all construction projects should comply with the law: “For instance, there should be a contractor and a consultant on a project and that such projects should use sustainable construction materials.

“This is to ensure that infrastructure is safe for users, of good quality and sustainable. The Council noted defiance to its Stop Order and Compliance Orders issued to this client hence the action taken.

“The Council wishes to warn all other non-complying parties that the law will soon catch up with them because NCIC will not relent in ensuring that construction industry players comply with the law to the letter,” Gideon said.

The probe revealed a litany of violations, including failure to obtain necessary permits, ignoring environmental impact assessments, and exploiting workers.

One of the workers at the site, Grace Undi from Chiweza Village, who draws water meant for the construction at the site, said she is not satisfied with the K3,000 pay that she gets every day because apart from her usual job, they are also given other tasks like carrying bricks.

“We work without gloves and other safety garments,” Undi said. “I had bruises in my arms because of cement and I had to go to the hospital to seek medical help, but our bosses do not show concern.”

The development in Lilongwe comes a week after the NCIC held its annual international conference under the theme; ‘Innovate, Adapt and Excel: A quality driven construction industry’, which deliberated on how to achieve a quality-driven construction industry.

It attracted about 230 delegates from Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and the United Kingdom and at its opening ceremony, Minister of Transport & Public Works, Jacob Hara challenged the construction sector stakeholders to develop a roadmap on how to promote local production of materials rather than importing.

The Minister said over-dependence on imported materials is failing the sector and there is need to empower innovative businesses that have shown potential of producing materials like cement and recycling scrap metals for import substitution.

Meanwhile, the country’s financial institutions have expressed readiness for long-term financing  arrangements on public infrastructure projects that could unlock the country’s construction sector growth.

The assurance was made by Standard Bank, FDH Bank and NBS Bank on the sidelines of the conference after noting that apart from quality standards issues, lack of financing especially on big projects is being highlighted as one of the challenges facing the sector and limiting its growth.

Standard Bank Plc Chief Executive, Phillip Madinga told the media that his institution is ready to finance big infrastructure projects in public sector, saying they have already done so, citing Kapichira 2 and currently the expansion of Kenyatta Road in Lilongwe.

On his part, FDH Financial Holdings Chief Executive Officer, William Mpinganjira said they are more interested in long-term financing on such projects because they are well structured —  singling out projects such as Malawi Fertiliser Company and Zomba Stadium.

In her project finance presentation, Zizwani Khonje of NICO Holdings, who is also a director at NBS Bank, said they put real estate as one of its main priorities based on its background as the New Building Society.

Experts have been stressing that government can utilise the booming pension sector which sits on K2.8 trillion of funds, to secure financing for public infrastructure projects and avoid foreign borrowing through loan authorisation bills in parliament.—Editing by Maravi Express