The Zambia Youths Association in the Fight against Corruption (ZYAFAC) has commended the government for the effective implementation of the 20% reserved threshold for the local contractors in the construction sector.

ZYAFAC Executive Director Maurice Malambo says it is pleasing following the disclosure by the Minster of Infrastructure and Housing Ronald Chitotela to the effect that from the time the policy was initiated to date about 702 have benefited representing a tune of K1.2 Billion.

Mr. Malambo hopes that the number of local contractors as beneficiaries will steadily increase because the initiative is of immense benefits to the economy and possibly with time increase the preserved threshold.

Mr. Malambo is suggesting that in order to ensure more local contractors benefit, government in liaison with professional associations in the construction sector should foster the union of small or medium contractors for the purpose of executing particular construction projects so as to synergies their varying individual capacities in the form of cooperatives.

He further suggests that in order to ensure the building of technological capacity, the government and other relevant stakeholders in the sector should foster a well-planned twinning program in which the amalgamated small or medium contractors are partnered with either local or international large scale contractors so as to facilitate the transfer of technology to and among the local players in the sectors.

Mr. Malambo states that the two pieces of intervention and others if well planned and implemented can help build technological capacity and mindset change in terms of good business practices among local contractors.

He notes that such interventions can help reduce the reported abandonment of projects, the non-completion of projects within schedule and facilitate graduate transition from small to medium scale and from medium to large scale levels.

The ZYAFAC Executive Director further states that these interventions have worked in advanced economies, such as Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore and acclimatized in some developing economies like Ethiopia, Rwanda and others.