[caption id="attachment_752" align="alignnone" width="750" caption="A building that colla[sed in Kiambu as a result of poor workmanship by the contractor"]
[/caption]Efforts to rid Kenya’s construction industry of cowboy contractors could soon pay off after a Bill to regulate the sector sailed through the first reading in Parliament last week. The Bill seeks to establish the National Construction Authority to oversee the construction sector by registering and accrediting contractors and regulating their activities.
[/caption]Efforts to rid Kenya’s construction industry of cowboy contractors could soon pay off after a Bill to regulate the sector sailed through the first reading in Parliament last week. The Bill seeks to establish the National Construction Authority to oversee the construction sector by registering and accrediting contractors and regulating their activities.It will also promote professionalism by ensuring only trained construction workers and site supervisors are registered. Currently, there is no legislative framework for centralised registration and training within the construction industry.
The registration of contractors is fragmented and each government agency maintains its own register on administrative basis only. There is also no mandatory continuous professional training for technicians and artisans in the industry that would lead to issuance of licences and certificates.
Lack of a centralised self-regulation and registration mechanism for contractors in the industry has led to the proliferation of non-performing contractors with little or no capacity to undertake works. Fragmented registration of contractors, on the other hand, has created a situation where non-performing contractors and those debarred in a ministry or institution can migrate and actively tender for projects in other ministries and institutions on account of multiple registrations or change of legal status.
Activities of the non-performing contractors have resulted in collapse of buildings in urban centres, often occasioning loss of life due to poor workmanship and non-compliance with specifications; poor infrastructure; and delayed completion of works (leading to project cost over-runs) and stalled projects.
If established, the National Construction Authority will address these challenges mainly by helping get rid of rogue contractors and promoting professionalism.
Source: Daily Nation
It is sad that barely a week after this posting, another building has collapsed in Embakasi, killing two and injuring several others. It is the high time that this bill is passed urgently, and a fresh registration of all contractors should be a requirement.
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