We are broke, say citizen contractors

Botswana’s construction industry, which is set to be a major beneficiary of the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP), is complaining of lack of financial resources that would assist them benefit from the initiative.

At a breakfast seminar organised by Botswana Guardian newspaper and Standard Chartered bank on Wednesday, chairman of the Citizen Contractors Association Michael Moji said the construction sector was not ready to take advantage of the ESP even though it was a good move. “For as long as we don’t get money to buy materials, it won’t benefit us. We still experience severe financial constraints,” he said.

The Association represents over 100 citizen-owned construction companies from Grade OC to Grade C. According to Moji, ESP should touch every Motswana and not just a specific few. He called on government to refrain from the habit of merely talking without execution. “Initiatives in this country are driven at a snail pace, but that won’t help grow the economy in any way,” he said, further challenging government to address the problem of financial constraints among citizen contractors.

Lambasting talks that associate citizen contractors are performing shoddy jobs, Moji said it was a result of lack of money. He stated that citizens would rather leave projects incomplete than do a shoddy job. “Imagine people working for three months with no pay. Do you expect them to continue doing it?” He said that lack of money also comprises the health of employees, stating that safety is not applied at their construction sites.

He charged that, he said it was big companies that were notorious for doing shoddy jobs despite having large sums of money and the right equipment. On other issues, Moji said tax clearance was going to be their stumbling block and appealed to government to abolish the requirement, as they do not have money.“We are totally thebeless,” he said. He alsocomplained of industrialisation, saying government should work to ensure that more money comes into the country from outside, and stop importing.

For his part, Duncan Kgame of Kwena Rocla emphasised that any economic agenda that is not driven by the private sector is doomed to fail. “I see prices going up within the industry. Private sector in Botswana is so fragmented. The private sector needs to speak with one voice,” he said, adding that ESP is going to be driven by a committee of some sort, and that ‘we have the same people every time. We are not going anywhere in this country. We need a paradigm shift in this country.’

Kelemogile Ramasu from Business Joints advised that government should engage serious experts from ministries of Trade and Industry and Infrastructure, Science and Technology. “Leave out Office of the President. The programme should not be treated as a poverty eradication initiative like Ipelegeng, but should be viewed with seriousness,” he said.

Under the revised procurement rules that effected on 12 December 2014, citizen contractors enjoy reservation to tender exclusively under Grades OC whose threshold is P1,5 million, Grade A at P3 million and Grade B at P7,2 million. Grade C attracts P12 million. Citizens can also try their luck under Grade D which has a threshold minimum of P30 million and a maximum of P85 million.