Demand for building materials to rise as FG approves maintenance framework

Demand for manufacturing and supply of parts like wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools are set to rise following the recent approval of a National Maintenance Framework for public buildings. The scheme was approved on January 9, 2019, during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. Speaking during a recent press briefing in […]

Demand for manufacturing and supply of parts like wood, pipes, paint, tiles, electrical fittings, windows and tools are set to rise following the recent approval of a National Maintenance Framework for public buildings.

The scheme was approved on January 9, 2019, during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

Speaking during a recent press briefing in Abuja on the scheme, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the scheme was aimed at ensuring that public buildings were protected and maintained to save resources for new projects.

What the approval means, the Minister said, was that after decades of agonising about lack of maintenance, the Buhari government had chosen to act because the records did not indicate that any such policy decision had previously been taken at the federal level.

“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,” he said.

“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 further said.

He explained that the award of contract would not only drive employment for artisans, but that it 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.