By Patience Lunda:
National Construction Industry Council (NCIC) of Malawi has disclosed that the Northern Region has emerged highest among other regions in terms of compliance to abandoning usage of burnt bricks and adoption of modern building techniques.
The council’s Chief Executive Officer, Linda Phiri, said the compliance rate for the Northern Region is four percent while the Central Region is at six percent and the Southern Region at seven percent.
She disclosed this during a tree planting exercise of 2000 trees the council held in Nkhata Bay.
Phiri said before the adoption of special regulations which were gazetted in 2018 it was discovered that 30 percent of public and commercial projects were using burnt bricks for construction.
“Our aim is that we should completely see to it that everyone uses environmental friendly ways to avoid cutting trees which is why we are still looking for possibilities on how this can be achieved,” she said.
Nkhata Bay District Forest Officer, McDoster Msomba, said his office has also set up measures to deal with wanton cutting down of trees in the district.
“We have intensified patrols and we are making sure that those caught face the law to deter other would be offenders,” he said.
During the event, Malawi Building Contractors and Allied Trade Association also pledged support in taking care of trees being planted in the country as they are among the immediate tree beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, NCIC has started a research to identify alternative and cheap ways of house construction for local Malawians.
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