REGISTRATION OF MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

The National Council for Construction (NCC) is a statutory body that was established by the National Council for Construction Act No. 13 of 2003 under the Laws of Zambia to promote, develop, capacity build, and regulate the Construction Industry in Zambia. In fulfilling its mandate, NCC undertakes the following Activities:
a. Registration of contractors,
b. Registration of manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment,
c. Registration of construction projects,
d. Testing of construction materials,
e. Capacity development of contractors and persons engaged in construction, and
f. Overall regulation of the construction industry,
Following its establishment, the Council went through a steep learning curve that led to a realization that Act No. 13 of 2003 had several inadequacies inhibiting the successful execution of its mandate. Notable lacunas included failure to adequately regulate manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment, and persistent poor quality of work in the Zambian Construction Industry (ZCI). Consequently, Act No. 13 of 2003 was repealed and replaced by the NCC Act No. 10 of 2020.
Section 20 to 25 of Act No. 10 of 2020 provides for the registration of manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment. The Act also provides for Monitoring of compliance with standards for construction materials by manufacturers and suppliers. Further, the Act prohibits manufacturing, supplying and selling of substandard construction materials.

The proposed Statutory Instrument (S.I.) will operationalize sections 20 - 25 to guide the registration process, registration forms, registration fees, and compliance monitoring for manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment. The S.I. will also prescribe the various categories of registration and the penalties for non-compliance.

Problem Statement
The Zambia Construction Industry is a key contributor to the National GDP. Over the years, the Government has injected large sums of money towards infrastructure development to bridge the infrastructure gap and to meet the targeted middle-income status by 2030. Investment in this sector has varied from schools, hospitals, houses, roads, power plants and Communication facilities just to mention a few.
Increased public and private sector investment in the ZCI has inevitably increased the demand for construction materials and equipment, which has led to a proliferation of manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment in Zambia. However some of these materials do not conform to standards or the compulsory standards set following the Standards Act No. 4 of 2017 or any other standards set in accordance with any other written law.
Further, NCC compliance inspections have revealed that apart from contractors' poor workmanship, failure also results because of poor standards of construction materials incorporated into the construction works. This compromise has led to the failure of construction products shortly after completion.
There is, therefore, a need to register all manufacturers and suppliers of construction materials and equipment to esure that their products are tested and certified before being incorporated into the construction works. Further, the NCC through its Materials Testing Unit will conduct regular compliance inspections and will conduct insitu, on-site and off-site testing of construction materials.

The Council, therefore, invites comments on the proposed regulations. The draft regulation is attached under the 'supporting documents' section of this notification.