INTERNATIONAL – The Zambian government said on Wednesday that it will soon come up with standardized models and costing for constructing public infrastructure.
Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Vincent Mwale said this was aimed at ensuring that government realizes value for money and remove variances in the cost of constructing similar public infrastructure in the country.
He said he wanted to see uniformity in the cost of constructing public infrastructure.
In remarks delivered when he met representatives of statutory bodies under his ministry, the Zambian minister said there was urgent need to change the public perception that the cost of constructing in Zambia was high compared to other countries.
He said he wanted engineers in the country to partner with his ministry by brainstorming and coming up with ideas that will help reduce the cost of construction in the country.
"I want statutory bodies under my ministry to embark on a study and come up with models and uniform costing of constructing public schools and hospitals. My ministry must work hard and produce models of low cost designs for public infrastructure and help all government line ministries realize value for money," he said.
The government, he said, was currently implementing austerity measures and that his ministry should help in ensuring that the cost of constructing public infrastructure was not exorbitant.
Able Ngandu, president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Zambia said engineers were ready to present proposals on how best to have uniformity in the cost of construction in the country.