The Works Ministry has put forward a Building Control Bill to guarantee decent, secure and planned building structures in the country, the State Minister for Works has said.
The Bill, currently before the cabinet demands that a person whose negligence causes or results into occasion of an accident on construction site resulting into death of people, destruction of property commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment of up to 12 years. The offence also attracts a fine of not less than Shs20m or both to the culprit.
Eng. John Byabagambi said buildings owners would also be charged under this law for hiring unprofessional engineers to manage their construction sites.
"The owners are also answerable. Once you [the developer] do not employ professionals the law will get you as well," Eng. Byabagambi said in Kampala on Friday.
The ministry also plans to amend the current Engineers Registration Act (1969), to provide a regulatory system to ensure registration of engineers, a precondition for the practice of engineering.
Once passed, the law would see a new Engineering Council substitute the 'Engineers Registration Board' to manage, enforce and regulate practicing engineers. According to the Minister, the new amendment would include an annual practicing licence for whoever practices the profession in both private and partnership capacity.
Recently, Local contractors associated under the Uganda National Association of Builder and Civil Engineering Contractors [Unabcec] asked government to establish a policy to fight shoddy works and curb collapsing building accidents.
According to the Works Ministry, over 50 per cent of the buildings in Kampala lack approved architectural plans as required by the city rules and regulations. The illegal structures in Kampala have been blamed on city authorities' failure to enforce policies, laws and regulations. "Lack of will to enforce the laws, corruption and population outburst has led to emergence of slums," Byabagambi said.
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The Building Control Bill is a very welcome development and we are thrilled to read about it. There are two points that we hope will be included in the Bill. The first is about hours of work. There is need for strict regulation of hours of work as is done in other countries. For instance, at a building site at 3-5 Nadiope lane, Mbuya- a construction company has for the past month since 7th April 2011 worked Monday - sunday without a break. On some nights like the night preceding Easter i.e 23rd April, the construction went on from 7.00 pm till 7.00 am. The same has happened last night of Monday 9th May 2011. This shows a need for the regulation of working hours to protect the workers. Secondly, construction is noisy- banging of equipment, workers shouting, loud bells ringing etc. Uganda's noise pollution regulations exist prohibiting loud noise through the night but these are ignored by such construction companies resulting into a loss of sleep for residents. We hope such provisions will exist in such a much needed Bill.
Thank you very much
Zav