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Construction industry steeped in corruption, says TACECA boss
2008-01-23 08:51:24
By Patrick Kisembo
Research by the Tanzania Civil Engineering Constructors Association (TACECA) has revealed that corruption perception is high within the construction industry.
This was revealed yesterday by TACECA chairperson Zakaria Nyanza at a workshop on monitoring the effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives in the construction sector held in Dar es Salaam.
The chairman said the study had revealed that as much as 10 to 15 per cent of project funds go to corruption.
``For many years, contractors were accused of being the major perpetrators of corruption and the results have shown that corruption perception is high in the construction industry,`` he said.
Nyanza said the joint meeting between the Engineering Registration Board (ERB) and the Association of Consulting Engineers Tanzania (ACET) held three years ago established that over 90 per cent of construction contract awards and some 70 per cent of consultancy assignments are believed to be routinely secured through corrupt practices.
He said the research had established that 90 per cent of contractors pay 10 to 15 per cent of the overall contract value in bribes.
``Based on a construction output of 700bn/- , this implies that direct losses due to corruption in construction contracts could be in excess of 100bn/-,`` he noted.
He said the loss would be magnified by poor quality and inappropriate functionality arising from compromised contract selections.
``This is giving the industry a bad reputation and TACECA wishes to do all it could to change the situation,`` he told his fellow engineers and contractors.
He said corruption in the industry had negatively impacted on its development.
Nyanza said though contractors have been singled out as the major perpetrators of corruption, it took two to tango and whenever corruption occured there was always a giver and a taker.
He told the participants that corruption distorts fair play in the bid for construction projects and undercuts contractors` profits.
Nyanza said many efforts have been made by different stakeholders to reduce corruption in the industry, but the achievements of the efforts have not been clear.
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