The Malawi Building, Civil Engineering and Allied Trades Association (Mabcata) has projected a construction boom in Malawi from this year with the rollout of the reformed K5 billion Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
Speaking yesterday in Lilongwe when the Construction Industry Regulatory Authority (Cira) held a construction parade ahead of today’s Construction Day celebrations, Mabcata president Vivian Chiocha said contractors now have more alternatives in terms of projects.
She said the CDF, Governance to Enable Service Delivery (Gesd), National Roads Maintenance Programme and other projects are offering hope to contractors on resources and their businesses.
“Of course, there are other sources of funding but as contractors we are mainly banking on the CDF,” said Chiocha.
In his remarks, Cira chief executive officer Gerald Khonje called on contractors and other stakeholders in the industry to ensure that they deliver quality work.
He said the country needs to invest in infrastructure and skills development to ensure the country has a professional industry that delivers quality infrastructure.
Said Khonje: “Any structure that you build, there are people behind it, it will affect people, influence people. It will influence people how they behave, how people do business. So we are saying we need to have people in mind.
“But quality is very key. If a structure is to be able to achieve its intended purpose, it has to be a quality structure that looks good, that can stand the test of time, that can live for generations to come.”
Cira board member Wilfred Lipita called on contractors to promote quality in their work if the country is to develop.
“We can only reach the level of countries like Japan and Singapore if we build quality infrastructure, that is the only way we can do that.
“And for that to happen we need quality human resource, quality engineers, quality work so that the things we build are durable and sustainable. Structures which are not durable are a loss to the country, a loss to the nation and a loss to companies themselves,” he said.
The theme of the Construction Day is ‘People, quality, innovation: building a legacy’.
