Govt gets tough on contractors, councils

Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda has warned contractors against delivering substandard work, saying those who do so will redo and deliver quality work at own cost.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday when he made a statement on infrastructure projects under his ministry, he said government wants to see quality work in local government projects, adding the government will not pay contractors if they fail to deliver quality work and are forced to rework.

Chimwendo Banda, who is also Leader of the House, said if contractors abandon work, they will have to pay back all the costs to government.

He said: “But it will not end there, we will refer that to the National Construction Industry Council and the Ministry of Transport and Public Works so that those contractors should be barred.

“They should not run away from Likoma and go to Dowa or run away from Dowa to Likoma. If that contractor has misbehaved in Dowa that contractor must be barred across the country.”

The minister observed that when bidding, contractors submit good work but when they go on the ground some end up doing substandard work, which presents a challenge.

Mangochi East member of Parliament (MP) Francesca Masamba (Democratic Progressive Party) lamented that a number of projects stall as contractors abandon projects.

She said councils also seem not to have the power to push contractors to complete the projects.

Mangochi South MP Lilian Patel (United Democratic Front) Lilian Patel also wondered why projects, especially those under Constituency Development Fund, take long to be implemented in some areas while in others they are completed within a short period of time.