Africa-Press – Tanzania. TANZANIA: MINISTER for Works, Innocent Bashungwa, has called upon the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) to submit an amendment proposal of their Act to the government to give it more power to deal with unscrupulous engineers.
The Minister said that there have been concerns that the ERB is failing to take action due to legal limitations, leading to perceptions of lack of seriousness in their works.
“If you see there are shortcomings in the law that hinder you from implementing your duties effectively, then request for amendment for the betterment of the industry’s growth,” he insisted.
Moreover, he called on engineers in the country to work diligently, professionally and maintain integrity, stressing that incompetent people will not win future government projects.
Minister Bashungwa also urged the ERB to regularly review the registration of members to ensure efficiency.
He made the call yesterday while officiating the 6th Annual Engineering Technicians Day (AETD).
He urged the ERB to ensure they enrol more members, saying 2,785 registered engineers is too small, noting that there are a lot of projects at the local government authority level that local engineers can engage in, but just a handful of them obtain double allocation of projects.
The Minister emphasised the need for engineers to register with ERB in order to gain recognition and accreditation, saying this will allow them to collaborate with both local and international engineers on small and large projects.
He said that engineers who are not members of the ERB should join the fray since it helps the government when preparing for allocation in strategic and development projects using existing numbers.
Minister Bashungwa also advised the technicians to form Building Better Tomorrow (BBT) groups so that they can be supported and get various tenders in the construction sector as well as be linked with the financial sector for soft loans to run their projects.
He therefore called on engineering technicians in the country to register with Engineers Registration Board (ERB) to gain recognition for the government to empower them.
Mr Bashungwa said the new approach to be implemented through BBT initiative will see young engineers and engineering technicians get practical training on handling small and big projects.
Earlier, the ERB Chairperson, David Manga said that engineering technicians are important stakeholders in the construction sector and national development. Mr Manga further said the board is working on review of some laws in efforts to help support local contractors and engineering technicians, among others.
“The board will cooperate with engineering technicians and work closely with the government on both small and big projects in the country” he said.
ERB Registrar Benard Kavishe said that the aim of the meeting was to help empower engineering technicians with new skills and knowledge for their projects.
In her welcome remarks, Dodoma Regional Commissioner, Rosemary Senyamule acknowledged the importance of engineers and engineering technicians in building Dodoma city, especially after the government decided to relocate to the capital city.
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