NMB Bank comes up with plan for local contractors
The NMB Bank chief of Retail Banking, Filbert Mponzi (right), speaks with the Permanent Secretary of ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Elius Mwakalinga, at a special symposium for contractors organised by the NMB Bank in Mwanza over the weekend. The symposium brought together over 300 local contractors based in the lake zone regions of Mwanza, Mara, Kagera and Geita. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
The guarantees have given the contractors the financial power to undertake tenders awarded to them
Mwanza. The NMB Bank has issued over 500 bid guarantees, worth billions of shillings to local contractors in a deliberate move to support the growth of local enterprises. The guarantees gave contractors the financial muscles to effectively undertake tenders awarded to them.
This comes at a time when local contractors have been complaining over lack of funds for them to effectively compete with their foreign counterparts.
Speaking during the special symposium that brought together over 300 contractors from all over the Lake Zone in Mwanza over the weekend, NMB’s chief of retail banking, Mr Filbert Mponzi, said the lender’s decision was in response to the government’s call for banks to support local contractors. Under the arrangement, he said, the bank issues the equivalent of 50 percent of the total work value in advance, alleviating liquidity challenges that contractors contend with in their daily undertakings.
He said his bank will keep on supporting local contractors on a number of aspects including providing insurance covers and lending at an affordable interest rates.
The symposium was also attended by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Mr Elius Mwakalinga.
Mr Mwakalinga challenged local contractors to remain competitive despite their inability to compete with foreign companies by employing professional Engineers.
“We have carried out a study which shows a number of local contractors failing to maintain professional engineers and end up employing graduate engineers and even technicians who somehow lack essential skills in undertaking quality works,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary said the government had been carefully reviewing factors behind many local companies failing to win major tenders and hinted a number of measures to arrest the situation.
He mentioned one of them as emanating from a meeting with the World Bank officials in his office recently where they deliberated on key issues including reviewing some financial conditions in order to give local companies more opportunities in the mushrooming construction industry.
