Windhoek — Stakeholders in the construction industry will on Wednesday convene for a conference at the Habitat Research and Development Centre in Katutura.

The aim of the meeting is to introduce the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) of South Africa to the Namibian Government and local stakeholders.

NHBRC is an organ of state, established to protect the interests of housing consumers and regulate the construction sector in terms of the Housing Consumer Protection Measurements Act, 1998 (Act No 95 of 1998) of South Africa.

The guest speaker at the conference will be Dr Jeffery Mahachi, the Executive Director of Technical and Information Technology at the NHBRC.

Mahachi will address the conference on the functions of the NHBRC and how the NHBRC regulates the home-building industry in South Africa.

Mahachi is a registered professional engineer and registered construction project manager. He holds a PhD degree in structural engineering, a Masters degree in Information Technology, and BSc Civil Engineering honours degree.

He is currently involved in a number of government ministerial initiatives, including sustainable human settlements and innovative housing systems in South Africa.

"We are truly fortunate to have this opportunity to host and have Dr Mahachi visit Namibia with his team, to share ideas with the Namibian Government and stakeholders within the construction industry," said local organiser Heinrich Schröder.

The Construction Industries Federation of Namibia, Namibia Standards Institution, Natio-nal Housing Enterprise, the Polytechnic of Namibia and the Ministry of Works and Transport have been invited to attend this ground-breaking conference to share and obtain ideas from experts in the control and regulation of standards in the South African building industry.

"There is a growing move within the SADC region to adopt a single set of standards based on the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) in the construction industry.

"Since the NSI (Namibian Standards Institution) has recently signed agreements with the SABS, we believe that we as the private sector can make a significant contribution in introducing the NSI to Dr Malachi and his team.

"The Polytechnic of Namibia has state-of-the-art facilities to conduct the necessary testing of materials associated with the building industry; again we believe that we can make a significant contribution in introducing the NHBRC delegation to the engineering faculty of the Polytechnic," said Schröder.

Although the conference is an initiative of the Kavango Block Brick company, the primary intention of the conference is to bring Government and stakeholders in the construction industry round one table, and to learn from experts in the field of regulating the building industry in order to promote the idea of establishing a similar body to that of the NHBRC in Namibia.