The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Building materials

  • ‘Maintenance will increase demand for building materials’

    Demand for the supply of building materials such as wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools is set to rise following the recent approval of National Maintenance Framework for public buildings by Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who spoke on the importance of the approval , said the scheme was aimed at ensuring that public buildings are protected and maintained to save resources for new projects.

    On what the approval means, the Minister said it is a breakthrough in the nation’s quest for maintenance culture. He said after decades of agonising about lack of maintenance, the Buhari administration had chosen to act because the records did not indicate that any such policy decision had previously been taken at the Federal level.

    He said:”The decision was provoked by a memorandum from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing that challenged the conventional thinking that Nigeria does not have a maintenance culture. The memorandum argued and FEC agreed that maintenance of infrastructure; whether public or private, is not a cultural issue, but an economic one.

    “In one of our sample buildings, leading up to the memorandum to FEC, we found out that out of 63 air-conditioning units, 11 required replacement or repair. We also identified windows, doors, tiles, roofing materials, plastering work that required replacement or repair.

    “The maintenance programme is then developed from these assessments as to what jobs need to be done to restore the building to fitness, what needs to be replaced and what needs to be repaired. This is the basis for the award of the maintenance contract following the existing procurement law.”

    He explained that the award of contract would not only drive employment for artisans, but would also drive demand of manufacturing and supply of parts like wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools, in addition to those of cleaning items like detergent, polish and varnish.

    “This is the economy that we see ahead as we set out to implement this approval starting from buildings, and as I said, and extending to roads, rail, bridges etc. as we progress,” he said.

  • Presidential committee donates N2b building materials to Borno

    The Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) has donated N2 billion building materials to the Borno State government.

    The donation was made  in collaboratiuon with the Presidential Committee for Victims Support Fund.

    It will also support the reconstruction of communities destroyed by insurgents.

    In a statement yesterday, PCNL’s spokesperson  Alkasim Abdulkadir said the cash was  presented to Borno State Governor  Kashim Shettima by the committee’s Vice Chairman Tijjani Tumsah at the weekend.

    He said the presentation included medical equipment.

    Abdulkadir noted that rebuilding hospital infrastructure is meant to complement short-term interventions, such as the medical outreach programmes that have been going on across the Northeast.

    The statement added:  “Also, the PCNI has flagged off a Housing Refurbishing Material Support Programme intended to provide access to an improved housing, in terms of quality and standard, for returnees and people directly affected by insurgency.

    “A total of 298,000 pieces of timber, 59,710 ceiling boards and 20,865 bags of assorted nails were handed over to the governor.

    “Also, 14,100 bundles of zinc and 2,400 bags of cement were part of the presidential committee’s intervention to the state.

    “The distribution of the building materials was made to nine local government areas of the state where reconstruction works are ongoing.

    “According to Alhaji Tumsah, ‘the distribution was based on the population of the local government areas and  damage assessment’.

    “Biu, Gwoza and Monguno local government areas got 50,000 pieces of timber, 2,275 bundles of zinc, 2,650 ceiling boards and 350 bags of cement each.

    “Also, 48,000 pieces of timber, 2,275 bundles of zinc, 2,650 ceiling boards and 350 bags of cement were donated to Damboa Local Government.

  • Woman docked over alleged theft of N5m

    A 41-year-old woman who allegedly stole N5 million worth of building materials from her employer was on Friday charged before an Ota Magistrates’ Court in Ogun.

    The accused, Funmilayo Alabi, who lives at No. 29 Adetoun Street, Iyana -Ilogbo, is facing a charge of stealing.

    The Prosecutor, Sgt. Chudu Gbesi, told the court that the accused sold building materials worth N5 million to customers on credit without the consent of her employer, one Raul Sallau.

    The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The offence contravened Section 390 (6) of the Criminal Code, Law of Ogun State, 2006.

    The Magistrate, Mr S. O. Banwo, granted N1.5 million bail to the accused with two sureties in like sum.

    He adjourned the case until April 3 for hearing.

     

  • Building materials manufacturer decries policy on gas consumption

    Building materials manufacturer decries policy on gas consumption

    Amidst rising inflation across all sectors of the nation’s economy due to harsh economic climate currently facing the country, the Managing Director, Mallinson and Partners Limited, a Lagos-based building materials manufacturing company, Mr. Afam Mallinson Ukatu, has decried government’s policy on gas consumption by local manufacturers that pay in US dollars for the supply, lamenting that this has caused over 25 per cent increase in the cost of locally produced building materials. Mallinson and Partners are producers of range of floor tiles and plastics.

    According to Ukatu the policy has led to reduction in production capacity of the country’s building/construction industry  and has not allowed building materials manufacturers in Nigeria to have competitive edge over imported building materials into the country.

    Speaking at the opening of the firm’s Building Mart, a subsidiary of Mallinson and a one stop shop for building materials and accessories, Ukatu also decried the nation’s energy crisis caused by pipeline vandalism, as this has forced many manufacturing firms to operate below production capacity.

    The managing director who said the vision of the mart is to have a one-stop shop, where people can purchase quality building materials at competitive price, pointed out that the country may not attain its dream of manufacturing her local building materials, if the issues of energy, gas and access to funds with lower interest rates are not addressed.

    Nigerians are coming up with local manufacturing of building materials with help of foreigners but that should not be the case, he stressed.

    Mallinson boss maintained that Nigeria should have goods manufactured in Nigeria by Nigerians and not goods manufactured in Nigeria by Indians, adding that this is what the manufacturers are trying to correct now.

    “It happened in China, where Taiwanese manufactured goods in China. Today, it is goods made in China by Chinese. That is what we want in Nigeria”, he noted.

    Singling out power as the major problem of the nation’s manufacturing sub-sector, Ukatu stated that people don’t want to invest in construction and manufacturing because of epileptic power supply and unfavourable government’s policies.

    He therefore called on government to do more to encourage local manufacturers by creating a parallel interest rate for manufacturers different from that of importers since the Bank of Industry cannot do it all.

  • ‘Make building materials, soil testing compulsory’

    ‘Make building materials, soil testing compulsory’

    Enforcement of compulsory materials testing is necessary to stop the incidence of building collapse in the country, the Managing Consultant, Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory (LSMTL),  Abel Famakin, has said.

    Speaking at the Eighth Anniversary of LSMTL in Lagos,  Famakin said making materials testing mandatory for new buildings as well as soil test, would reduce incidences of collapse buildings in the state.

    He said since the inception of the Agency, no incident of building collapse has been recorded from any of the certified buildings and materials tested by the Agency, pointing out that non-compliance to building standards and negligence by contractors have been responsible for perennial building collapse in the state.

    Famakin said although the agency is not empowered to sanction  building defaulters, it, in collaboration with  the State Safety Commission and Lagos State Building Control Agency, have over the years, sensitised the public on the importance of materials testing and issued sanctions where necessary.

    He appealed to contractors, site engineers and the public to collect their materials test results to make strategic decisions between the actual result and the expected standard.

    “The laboratory is presently experiencing a backlog of uncollected results which signals that such clients did not pay attention, nor appreciate the importance of quality control and assurance. To this end, we have taken a step further to ease the whole process of result collection by offering the option of result report delivery to clients free,” he said.

    He praised the visionary leadership of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the then Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, now Governor of Osun State,  Rauf Aregbesola; the then Accountant-General in the state, now Lagos  Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and the then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, now Commissioner in the Ministry, Ganiyu Johnson, among others, for conceiving the idea of establishing the agency eight years ago.

  • Firm to unveil products

    Emel Building Materials, a member of the Emel group, is set to introduce three new productsinto the market.

    The products – Stanley Commercial Hardware and Security Systems; Associate Decor Chipboard; and Milano Sanitary Ware – would be on display at the company’s pavilion at the upcoming Archibuilt Exhibition in Abuja.

    The introduction of these products may be a mark of the firm’s  efforts at providing world-class, innovative and affordable building material products and services.

    According to its Managing Director, Mr. Mahesh Asnani, the introduction of the products form part of the firm’s strategy to become leading one stop shop for building materials.

    Besides, it is believed that the effort will also reaffirm the manufacturer’s commitment to introducing top-quality products aimed at advancing the Nigerian construction industry.

    Asnani said it is because of the group’s desire to plug all loopholes in the market – a situation which hitherto created a vacuum, making it possible for the preponderance of substandard products to hold sway in the market.

    “That is why we decided to plug this vacuum by providing high quality, yet affordable products for the benefit of Nigerians,” Asnani said.

    The Emel International Pavilion will also showcase premium roofing and door brands, including Tilcor Stone Coated Roof Tiles from New Zealand, Formet Steel Doors from Turkey and Krosswood Real Wood Doors from the USA.

    Emel Building Materials recently won ‘The Most Trusted Quality Building Material Company Award’ at the Africa Quality Achievement Awards.

  • Building materials’ traders decry poor sales

    A Building materials seller in Odunade, Agic and Coker area of Lagos, has lamented the loss of patronage by contractors because the latter do not have jobs.

    The traders sell plumbing materials, sanitary fittings, jacuzzi, swimming pool and steel.

    One of the traders, who didn’t want to be mentioned, decried the loss of business which he attributed to lack of patronage from contractors who get government’s contracts to either supply building materials or build houses.

    He said traders have even reduced prices on the building materials but that the gesture is yet to attract big time buyers to them.

    On the quality of the products sold in the market, he said they have sanitised their unions by discouraging the sale of substandard products. He confirmed that most of their products come from United Kingdom, China and Dubai. He said the traders have a good working relationship with the Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON) as they comply with the provisions of the agency.

    The Chairman of Glonnamas Technical CO, Mr Henry, said their business has not been growing because fewer customers come to them to buy building materials.

    He blamed the lack of patronage of contractors by the government as a key factor in their poor sales. He pleaded with the government to give out contracts and pay her contractors so that it would rob off on the traders.