Prime
Fake building parts threatening construction growth
What you need to know:
Accessing the market. Fake building parts access the market through mushrooming hardware stores.
The mushrooming building materials large scale hardware shops that import substandard products is threatening Uganda’s construction industry, according to Prof Jackson Mwakali, the chairman of the Engineers Regulatory Commission.
Mr Mwakali told Daily Monitor in an interview on Friday that the construction industry has been bombarded with substandard goods from large-scale hardware shops that import cheap products including steel bars, cement, paint, electrical wires among others.
“The biggest problem is there is less monitoring of these products that are come into the market. Most of them are imported yet they do not meet the standard,” Prof Mwakali said.
However, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards denies the allegations, saying they have put enough measures in place to rid Uganda of substandard building materials, especially cement.
The acting executive director, Mr Ben Manyindo, said; “We used to get complaints about steel and cement but we have streamlined the industry to ensure that providers sell standard products.
The high growth in the entry of substandard building materials results from the rise in the cost of genuine parts, steered by the increase in the cost of doing business in the country.
Impressive growth
Stumbling block. Even as construction registers impressive growth, the presence of fake products on market remains a stumbling block to the progress.
