Almost every day, government officials have to register their displeasure about the state of affairs in the construction industry.
For time immemorial government has been complaining of cost overruns, time overruns, poor workmanship, poor labour practices and unethical behavior as well as rampant corruption within this sector of the economy.
When opening offices recently in Tati Siding, President Ian Khama also expressed concern about contractors who default on execution of their contracts.
Equally concerned is the opposition as evidenced by the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition, Botsalo Ntuane, wherein he complained about Chinese construction companies and how they have overnight bulldozed and killed local construction companies out of business. Contractors and consultants are also notorious for overpricing their quotations.
Besides the complaints, it is public knowledge that the Lobatse, Francistown and Gaborone stadiums have been declared defective, notwithstanding millions being pumped into these projects.
The Serrowe one is unusable.
Defects have also been observed in a number of Police stations and Secondary schools. Elsewhere, there have been delays in completion of some roads.
This is but a few examples to show that if anything, government’s interventionist measures have not been helpful. The problem in the industry is getting worse and seriously warrants extra attention.
Since government announced it will be suspending bad contractors from participating in government tenders, the situation has not improved.
The construction industry is key to economic diversification. In fact, this is by far one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. It is source of employment as it creates lots of jobs, provides the necessary public infrastructure for rolling out of services. This is a key area which serves as a source of income for formal and informal sector. Without labouring on the point, this is one industry that is of value to Botswana.
At the rate things are going, few investors will contemplate parting with their money to make profit in a country with a rundown infrastructure. The poor infrastructure which is a result of the bad workmanship is a nuisance and can therefore not be allowed to continue.
Government’s good intentions to support the sector are negated by the lack of supervision and poor standards.
It is obvious these companies are having a field day. It is time for government to stop harping on threats but take serious action to demonstrate it means business.
Government has said that it will cause the Public Procurement Assert Disposal Board (PPADB) to delist errant companies.
However despite the sanctions, complaints are still pouring in. It is our view that government should outrightly remove these contractors from the PPADB list as a matter of urgency. Government should also take legal action against those who cost it overruns because the taxpayer cannot foot the bill where the blame lies with the contractor.
It’s high time contractors and consultants who team up to defraud government are exposed and prosecuted.
These unethical and bad business practices, which have developed into a custom, threaten not only the construction industry but our country’s economy. As for Chinese contractors, although government’s claim is that these companies have capacity, some of them have been guilty of poor workmanship, cost overruns and adhering to poor labour practices.
In our view, they should not be spared and the authorities should move to delist them and impose other penalties for their bad contractual performance.
