National Construction Authority’s mandate is to streamline and regulate the construction industry. Our writer Frank Muchugu spoke to NCA’s executive director Daniel Manduku about a wide range of issues in the sector
Why does NCA exist? What are its roles?
NCA is a government agency established under the National Construction Authority Act of 2011 with a broad mandate to oversee construction industry and coordinate its development.
According to Section 5 of the Act, the core functions of NCA deals with the promotion and improvement of the construction industry through various initiatives and interventions such as training, capacity building, quality assurance and dissemination of research information among others.
The agency’s mandate can be summarised into advisory, regulatory and capacity building.
Being a relatively new authority, what have been the major challenges so far?
One key challenge has been industry resistance to change. The industry had largely been dominated by rogue contractors, less informed developers, unskilled labour-force and several informal businesses within the entire supply chain of the construction.
As such, trying to professionalise the industry has not been without resistance. Also the challenge of inadequate political and social support from various stakeholders- particularly ignorant contractors, developers and labour force engaged in the industry.
Agencies that are new often complain over staffing and financing, has this been the case?
That is very true. Insufficient staff engaged in the authority to adequately cover the nationwide mandate has been a challenge.
We have also experienced the challenge of low financing from the exchequer to adequately facilitate quality assurance checks not mentioning the low levels of compliance by developers in project registration and construction levy payments. The authority also lacks enforcement capability and particularly prosecution power.
What has been the greatest achievement by the authority since its inception?
Having over 16,000 contractors registered to date in different categories ranging from buildings, Civil works and other specialised contractors is a major achievement for us. To enhance compliance and quality assurance the authority has carried out several sting operations in construction sites across the country.
Also through a national wide rapid results initiative the authority has managed to accredit approximately 150,000 construction workers and site supervisors.
The construction industry is one that requires continuous research. What is the authority doing?
The authority through a consultative process has developed and launched the first ever National Construction Research Agenda (Nacra). The agenda has 17 wide construction research areas which execution is aimed at providing practical solutions to most challenges bedeviling the industry in Kenya.
The government has indicated that it is focused on uplifting the lives of slum people through better housing. Do you have any role as NCA?
NCA has been a major stakeholder in the slums upgrading programme being spearheaded by the Ministry of Devolution. The NCA role in this has been technical design and supervision. The authority is currently playing a similar role in implementation of 20 Huduma Centres across the country.
One of the problems the construction industry is facing is lack of proper training by the artisans. What is the authority doing on that?
Since last year, the authority has carried out over 15 contractors and construction workers trainings in different parts of the country. To date over 16,000 construction business owners and workers have been trained. Currently the Authority is training youths on civil works in five slums: Kibera, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kiandutu, Korogocho and Mathare.
How does the authority work with county governments and the National Environment Authority (Nema) especially on approval of buildings as far as the construction industry is concerned?
As per the NCA Act, all construction projects are supposed to be registered with the authority.
The authority has developed project registration criteria which requires among other things proof of approval of the project by other agencies such as the county governments’ development control units and the Nema.
The authority has also been undertaking joint quality assurance initiatives with county governments for example the Nairobi county government in carrying out building audits and inspections exercise.
An initiative to bring the approval functions of the three institutions under one roof is underway to enhance service provision.
There have been cases of buildings under construction collapsing and killing or injuring people, where is the problem?
One of the problems is rogue people masquerading as contractors. They end up doing shoddy work. Some buildings are also put up without proper design structures.
In some cases, buildings don’t even have the necessary approvals for instance by county governments. Lack of projects supervision by qualified professionals has also been noted as a concern.
The use of counterfeit materials is also a problem. We also have inadequate construction skills in the industry leading to poor workmanship. That is why we have prioritised training artisans at the moment.
So far, how many rogue contractors has the authority blacklisted due to poor workmanship so far?
No contractors have been blacklisted so far. However; there are a few contractors under investigations following some of the recent incidences of collapsing buildings.
NCA has marked many buildings across the country X. Are these cases of poor workmanship or there are other issues?
Marking of a building X by the authority is not to mean the building is unsafe or is structurally unsound.
The authority puts the X mark because of a number of issues. These include it not having a NCA registered contractor or accredited site supervisor executing the project.
The mark will be put where the construction project is not registered with NCA and thus no certificate of compliance. The mark is put on any construction where there is no signboard on the construction project site.
Other cases involve no approved drawings for the construction project, no details of consultants (as shown in the signboard) supervising the construction project and no hoarding around the construction site. If health and safety is compromised by the construction site workers lacking protective equipment and gear, the X can be put.
Does the authority have power to pull down a building?
Currently the buildings under construction which do not comply with the requirements of the relevant laws are stopped by the authority. The authority gives a copy of that order to the police in the area concerned to ensure the order is complied with.
The authority levies a 0.5 per cent fee, of the value of any construction contract whose value exceeds five million shillings. Where does this money go to?
The levy is aimed at supporting the strategic objectives of the authority which entails training in the construction industry for contractors, site supervisors and constructions.
The fee is also used in supporting the construction industry’s capacity building initiatives in order to foster growth.
The authority intends to improve revenue collection to set aside some revolving fund for use by contractors to finance construction projects as well as also establish an equipment leasing and hiring section to support local contractors.
Has the authority devolved its functions? If yes, how many regional offices are there so far?
Yes the authority has devolved its functions through establishment of 11 regional offices. They are in Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitui, Nyeri, Isiolo, Garissa and Kakamega, Kisii and Nairobi.
What services are offered at the regional offices?
Registration of contractors andprojects, issuance of compliance certificate as well as quality assurance and site inspection.
The offices also deal with the accreditation and training of contractors, construction site supervisors and workers in conjunction with the headquarters.
Many are the times local contractors complain that foreign contractors are favored? Are these complains legitimate?
Our recent research has shown that most of our local contractors (79 per cent) fall below NCA4.
As such it is obvious their endowment in terms of financial capital, plant and equipment and manpower falls below that of foreign contractors who are registered under NCA 1 a clear signal of their resource capacity and therefore preferential bias by most developers.
How is NCA managing the issue?
Currently NCA is managing the issue through legislation, where NCA law requires that a minimum of 30 per cent of value of any contract won locally by foreign contractors will be undertaken by local contractors.
However, in appreciation that now the world is a global village, the best way to manage this challenge would be through building of skills and capacities of our local contractors for them to compete with other foreign contracting businesses.
What has the authority done in respect to standardisation and improvement of construction techniques and materials in the country?
Nacra has a strong proposition for research into construction materials and techniques going forward. The authority is also working closely with KEBS in standardisation of alternative building materials and technologies.
Currently, a standard has been developed on EPS Panels with NCA as a major stakeholder and is now under circulation for public review.
So far, what has the authority done in relation to promoting training centers for skilled construction workers and construction site supervisors?
The authority has already completed the first mapping survey of technical training institutions in Nairobi. A similar exercise which commenced on September 14, 2015 is currently being carried out in all the counties.
The objective of this study is to reveal gaps in the training institutions with an aim of formulating policy recommendations to close them as well as establishing areas of cooperation between the authority and the training institutions.
The authority is also working closely with the TVETA to promote technical trainings in institutions of learning.
There are many artisans out there with a lot of experience in the construction industry but lack any formal training and papers, what is the authority’s position on such people?
The authority has been recognising experience of the many artisans in Kenya without formal training by issuing them with NCA accreditation. This follows practical examination of the workers as opposed to accreditation based on academic papers.
One of the problems small-scale builders face is lack of a central portal where they can easily get qualified artisans to handle specific construction works. Is this a concern to the Authority?
The authority has a well-developed database with approximately 150,000 accredited site supervisor and construction workers. They are from different disciplines such as masonry, carpentry and plumbing from which developers can choose from.
What are the immediate plans for the Authority?
To ensure the construction industry regulated to the level best. We have to ensure quality assurance in the construction industry is implemented.
It is our plan to enhance research in the construction industry. Our focus also is to build capacity within the construction industry.
What are long term plans? Where is the authority headed to?
In the long run, we would want to have a National Construction Training Institutes, National Construction Research Institutes and also see the establishment of construction funds.
What would be the role of the construction funds?
The funds will be deposited with the local banks in order to avail to local contractor a number of services.
These will include cheaper loans and financing of projects, tender security bids, performance bonds and advance payment guarantees.