The Construction Industries Federation (CIF) and the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (MANWU) continue to engage government to cancel projects that have led to the exclusion or will exclude majority Namibian-owned contractors, due to mostly steep financial pre-qualification or qualification requirements.
The main plea was addressed by these entities to President Hage Geingob to solve the matter as Head of State.
Due to time constraints, the union and the federation urged that all projects currently excluding local contractors be cancelled and re-advertised. The CIF and MANWU argue that these projects were not in the interest of the Namibian construction sector, and actually undermine the optimal performance of the sector.
“Following cancellations, the financial and technical criteria would need to be reviewed for each of the respective projects, and then subsequently be re-advertised into smaller lots, as well as more with realistic technical criteria,” reads a joint statement from the two entities.
“Other than it being a procurement matter, it was also a question of how grants and loans were sought and negotiated, and possibly even a matter of Namibia’s foreign policy and related bilateral and multi-lateral relationships,” the statement added.
The CIF and MANWU likewise requested that the capacitation and consideration of Namibian businesses be prioritised when government accepts external finances such as loans or grants.
“All the developments are extremely disappointing, and undermine Namibia’s own contractors. Namibian contractors, as well as professionals in the construction sector, are in desperate need of work. There seems to be no understanding, and no deliberate attempt to optimally support our local industry. This not only includes majority Namibian-owned SMEs, but also majority Namibian-owned mid-sized contractors and majority Namibian-owned large-sized contractors,” said Bärbel Kirchner, chief executive officer of the CIF.
She added: “On the contrary, it appears that our own contractors, in particular the large-sized contractors, are deliberately undermined. This can bring about the insolvency and eventual bankruptcy of our established and well-capacitated contractors”.
Backbone in jeopardy
The CIF and MANWU noted that many of Namibia’s large-sized contractors have invested in plants and machinery, and have financial obligations, which demand related turnover. The entities cautioned that if these businesses were to close down, Namibia will lose the backbone of its building and construction sector, and will become increasingly dependent on foreign contractors.
“Once the latter have succeeded in fully capturing the Namibian market, it is very likely that there will be an eventual change to their business models, and their costing and pricing strategy,” the statement warned.
Justina Jonas, MANWU secretary general, emphasised: “Our government and all State organs are the biggest employers for the construction industry, and it must be the State’s priority to ensure that local contractors, especially those with equal capacity as foreigner contractors, are exempted from tender requirements, and are awarded the mega projects. At the moment, the private sector is leading by example to ensure that the big local contractors are awarded jobs. However, it is critical that Government creates a safe environment for its citizens. Foreign contractors must be sourced as sub-contractors by our local contractors, and it should not be the other way around. Foreigner contractors are diminishing the construction sector, thus creating precarious employment in the sector. It becomes an industry with no decent jobs and no social protection”.
Jonas continued: “We also want to caution the public not to be misled about the issue of middle agents or tenderpreneurs. We all know that tenderpreneurs very likely are a project of corrupt officials, who are in bed with foreign contractors. Tenderpreneurs are the ones who are messing up, and it seems there is no one who is ready to hold them accountable. We have been calling for the establishment of a National Construction Council so that the sector is properly regulated”.
Incomplete projects
The CIF and MANWU also shone the spotlight on many uncompleted projects procured by government. As such, both entities had repeatedly called for the establishment of a construction council, as poor workmanship and non-completion was essentially the result of the limited knowledge of and a poor selection of contractors.
“It is annoying that these developments are then used by many as justification for the involvement of foreign contractors. This undermines our own industry, and creates a perception that all Namibian contractors are not able to meet requirements. We believe that this perception is sadly as a result of what can be regarded as inaction by our government to effectively address the matter,” Kirchner stated.
The CIF and MANWU are thus of the opinion that the exclusion of local contractors is not in the interest of maintaining and further developing the domestic construction sector, and that it is also not aligned with Namibia’s efforts to address poverty and reduce unemployment. They furthermore feel that the engagement of foreign contractors subverted Namibia’s efforts of optimal revenue collection, as well as the flow of money into the Namibian economy.
“We believe that government has a major role to play in creating sustainable businesses, in particular in our construction sector. Government has a role to play in creating decent work in the construction sector, inasmuch as creating the appropriate policy environment which would allow for consistency, continuity and stability of work in our sector,” said Jonas.
The recent plea by the CIF and MANWU has also been addressed to several ministers, State-owned enterprises, Cabinet as well as various financing institutions.