THE Government will only award contracts to local contractors with the capacity to do the job, and big enough to enable more Zambians to benefit from their contracts through employment creation.

Works and Supply Minister, Mike Mulongoti said it was pointless to give contracts to companies that did shoddy works and contributed less to the Government's goal of poverty reduction.

Mr Mulongoti said this when he visited construction students at the National Construction Commission (NCC) practical site in Chief Mungule's area on Wednesday, where students were supervising local people who had been recruited to work on a road.

The minister said local contractors had to improve their working capacity to help the Government save resources.

"The Government is spending too much money on foreign contractors which would be more beneficial to our own people and the country at large if local contractors would improve their working capacity," he said.

He said many local contractors had failed to meet the required standards, prompting the Government to settle for foreign contractors.

He said the Government was in a hurry to reduce construction costs, hence the reason why it had decided to procure construction equipment.

And Works and Supply Permanent Secretary, Bizwayo Nkunika said the Government was working towards retaining 30 per cent of all construction projects for small-scale contractors so that they could also survive in the highly competitive market.