Public institutions’ preference of foreign contractors worries CDEDI

Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives CDEDI has criticized the tendency of some public institutions which prefer foreign contractors at the expense of local ones

In a statement CDEDI says this development is putting unnecessary pressure on the country’s much needed foreign exchange forex but the quality of workmanship of some of these foreign contractors leaves a lot to be desired

Executive director of the centre Sylvester Namiwa adds this tendency poses a serious threat to survival of local construction industry

“The concerns come following CDEDI’s preliminary findings on implementation of projects such as the 26.7 million dollars Karonga town water supply and 30.55 million dollars Nkhatabay town water project by northern region water board and subsequent meeting with the board management,” Namiwa

According to Namiwa NRWB claims that at the time of awarding the contracts, it was not mandated to sub contract 30 percent of the works to a local company as stipulated by construction regulations and laws in Malawi

Yet the 30 percent sub-contracting rule is a deliberate policy to build the capacity of local contractors in order to attain a cut off on the reliance on foreign companies and at the same time in the spirit of sharing the national cake

Therefore CDEDI is shocked to note that the two Chinese companies that were awarded the said contracts were given blank cheques by NRWB when signing the contracts

CDEDI has also established that construction works of the two projects could have been ably handled by local firms hence writing NRWB to specifically furnish them with contracts they signed for the two projects in search of transparency and accountability

Therefore the centre challenges those entrusted with procurement and awarding of contracts on behalf of Malawians to exercise a high level of patriotism and put aside personal interests.