NCIA team pays courtesy call to National Construction Authority

The NCIA team led by the Registrar/CEO paid a courtesy to the National Construction Authority to discuss areas of collaboration and partnership in advancing the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in the built and construction sectors. The team was welcomed by Eng. Maurice Aketch the Executive Director of the institution, who also doubles up as the Registrar of Contractors. Also present were Mr. Samson Lukoba the Corporation Secretary and Head of Legal, QS Susan Rutto the General Manager, Registration and Compliance, and the Vice Chairperson of the Authority Ms. Mercy Okiro. Eng. Aketch started by giving an overview of the authority’s mandate noting that it is derived from the NCA Act (2011) with the overall function being to oversee the construction industry and coordinate its development with a particular objective to establish a code of conduct for the industry. Its key functions include registration of contractors, accreditation, project registration, and renewal of practicing licenses for both local and international companies, and research. The authority has fourteen functions which can be categorized into three namely regulatory, capacity building, and advisory. In the regulatory function, the authority licenses contractors which are businesses that offer construction services to the Kenyan market. They include both local and international contractors and they are licensed based on their sizes with category one being the largest contractor and category eight the smallest, with the rest falling in between. The contractors are also classified into building works, waterworks, electrical mechanical, among many others. He explained that foreign contractors can only be licensed under Category One

He noted that the authority also provides accreditation of construction workers which includes certifying them and professionalizing their trade. He observed that the trades include plumbing, masonry, carpentry, electrical works, and painters, among others with the authority recognizing seven trades among many in the sector. Another regulatory role carried out by the authority according to Eng. Aketch is the registration of projects including houses, buildings, dams, and any related construction project to ensure the projects have met the regulatory requirements set out by the authority upon which the authority issues a compliance certificate. Eng. Aketch went further to explain that the authority had established offices in twenty-eight locations to provide support to the construction sector in the counties. While making his remarks, the Registrar thanked Eng. Aketch for welcoming the team to the authority and for the comprehensive background information he had provided about the authority’s mandate.

He provided a background of the Centre’s mandate noting that the Centre was established in 2013 by an Act of Parliament as a Centre for the promotion of international commercial arbitration and other alternative forms of dispute resolution. He observed that as long as there are construction projects, then it follows that disputes will occur hence the need for parties engaging in the construction business to know where to turn to when such disputes arise. He gave the example of the need for institutions carrying out construction projects outside the Kenyan jurisdiction hence the need to build the capacity of institutions to manage cross border disputes. He noted that the Centre was the lead agency coordinating the development of the national ADR policy which was approved by the cabinet in March 2023. He noted that two bills were being considered by the Attorney General namely the dispute resolution bill and the construction adjudication bill, which he noted would be of interest to the construction industry. The construction adjudication bill he noted is supposed to provide a framework for the construction sector to resolve disputes through adjudication. The meeting concluded with a commitment to have a partnership between the two institutions in the areas of capacity building, research, and joint policy development which should culminate in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.