LOCAL FIRMS DEMAND AUDIT ON MAJOR CONTRACTS

LOCAL contractors and suppliers have demanded that an audit on all on-going projects be conducted to assess the level of successful implementation of the 20 per cent sub-contracting policy.

Consortium of Local Contractors and Allied Suppliers (ColCAS) Secretary General, Bruce Kabandama, said the consortium wanted to establish how the 20 per cent sub-contracting policy had performed so far.

Mr Kabandama said the 20 per cent sub-contracting policy would only be successful if a number of measures were put in place to level a playing field and achieve a win-win situation.

He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation at the weekend.

"We demand that an audit on all on-going projects being implemented in various ministries such as Health, Home Affairs, Water, Environmental protection, Communication and transport be conducted to assess the level of successful implementation of the 20 per cent sub-contracting policy.

"We also demand that rates for sub-contractors be the same as that of the main contractor and only a maximum 5 per cent management fee shall be retained by the main contractor,'' Mr Kabandama said.

Mr Kabandama said the 20 per cent of works on all project must be apportioned in advance to nominate or appointed local contractors and contracts whether such a project was funded or not. "We are also demanding that advance payment should be given to all sub-contractors engaged. This is in order to boost the capacity of local contractors,” he said.

Mr Kabandama also welcomed the newly constituted Task Force on implementing the 20 per cent sub-contracting policy on all major projects across the country.

He however said a similar team was constituted as a directive by President Edgar Lungu 10 months ago, but the team failed to yield desirable results.

He said it failed because contractors and suppliers who were the major stakeholders were not part of the team.

"We therefore demand representation of local contractors to be included in this new taskforce failure to which it shall still remain an exercise in futility. It will be a mere academic exercise. "We must understand that most of the members of this team have limited time and as such cannot manage to check compliance at every project,'' he said.