By Flavior Kanung
The National Council for Construction NCC has fined Norman Suleman Muhammed, the owner of the Libala building which collapsed and killed a 40 year old worker in Lusaka’s Katungu area.
One person died while two others sustained serious injuries when the building collapsed on them at Katungu market in November last year
NCC director regulation and registration, Ernest Nshindano, explained that the developer and the contractor had been fined a total of K30, 000 per unit for not registering the construction with the NCC.
Mr Nshindano said the developer was charged in line with the NCC Act for engaging unregistered engineers.
He said the council has had a number of meetings with the client and his legal representatives before arriving at the decision to penalise him.
Mr Nshindano said the developer had been instructed to re-design the building and ensure that due procedures of construction regulations are followed.
“Both the developer and the contractor have been written to and are expected to sign admission of guilty for which they have been penalised for,” Mr Nshindano said.
He said the developer is now expected to redesign the building which should approved by relevant authorities and engage qualified contractors.
He warned developers who were in the habit of engaging non-registered engineers to desist from such acts.
Preliminary investigation into the building conducted by NCC revealed that the materials used to construct the structure were substandard and that the construction site in question was illegal.
Mr Nshindano added that the contractors together with the engineers involved were also not registered.
