Tanzania
CoST Tanzania is online
Go to the MSG's own website for CoST in Tanzania:
http://costtanzania.ncc.or.tz
See here for an overview of the pilot phase in Tanzania.
Tanzania Construction industry
Since 2000, Tanzania's real GDP has grown at an annual rate of about 6.3 percent, with the construction industry a major contributor to this growth. Construction contributes around TSh 740 billion (£300 million) or about 5.6% to the GDP of TSh13,000 billion or £5.2b. The Ministry of Infrastructure & Development is the main government body dealing with infrastructure together with the Prime Minister's Office for Regional and Local Government. Tanzania has a number of well developed regulatory and business/professional institutions operating in the construction sector. The main body tasked with developing the sector is the National Construction Council (see http://www.ncc.or.tz/) with the purpose of promoting the development of the local construction industry.
The construction industry is a sector of the economy that transforms various resources into constructed physical economic and social infrastructure necessary for socio-economic development. It embraces the process by which the said physical infrastructure are planned, designed, procured, constructed or produced, altered, repaired, maintained, and demolished. Thus, the construction industry is a fundamental economic activity which permeates most of the sectors of the economy and it has a major role to play in achieving social economic development objectives of any country; yet is consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt areas of economic activity in a number of countries including Tanzania.
The Government has been concerned about the problem; as a result has been taking a number of initiatives geared towards preventing and combating corrupt practices; notable amongst which include: Enactment of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act 2007, strengthening the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), and financial and public procurement reforms (Public Procurement Act, 2004 and the Public Finance Act 2001)
Furthermore, in 2003, the Government published the Construction Industry Policy. One of the objectives of the Construction Industry Policy is to ensure efficient and cost effective performance of the construction industry that will guarantee value for money on constructed facilities in line with best practices. Such are an objective cannot be meaningfully achieved without combating corruption. Accordingly, it is the Government's resolve to; promote adherence to principles of corporate governance in the construction sector, and to promote measures for preventing corruption in the construction sector by measures that include enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability in procurement, design and contract administration, and instituting mandatory technical auditing of all major public - financed projects where there shall be suspicion of malpractice.
The above Government policy commitments are largely in line with what is being advocated by the objectives of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) as it aims to enhance the transparency and accountability of publicly financed construction projects; with expectation that improved transparency will be supportive of better management of public finances and reduced corruption.
Structure
CoST in Tanzania in has been conceived as an unincorporated forum of members and shall exercise its functions through its Multi Sectoral Group (MSG), Secretariat and Administrative Host i.e. the National Construction Council (NCC). NCC is a government institution which is a focal point for sector coordination of all the institutions engaged in the construction industry activities for the purpose of ensuring consolidation, harmonization and competitive performance of the industry in Tanzania. The organization and operations of CoST shall be guided by the Rules of CoST. The CoST Champion is the Minister responsible for good governance. This structure is illustrated in the following diagram.
Membership
Any entity or person who shares the Objectives and Principles of CoST may apply to become a Member of CoST. Generally, members may include national, regional, international organizations and entities, and local governments and/or their ministries, departments, agencies and institutions, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, companies, service providers and practitioners in both the public and private sectors and individuals. These shall form the following three main stakeholder groups for CoST; that is, Civil Society - representing the beneficiaries of construction sector services, public Sector - representing the clients and financiers of construction works and services, and private sector that provide most of the works and services.
Assurance Team
Members of the Assurance Team shall be appointed on a case by case basis and shall operate in accordance with terms of reference to be provided by the MSG. Each member of the Assurance Team shall have minimum education of a bachelor degree or equivalent, relevant experience of at least five years, and high professional integrity
Funding
CoST shall solicit funds through voluntary support, contributions and grants from governments, development funding agencies/development partners and from its members.
Additional Information
You can download Tanzania's Summary workplan and CoST Logframe for Tanzania here:
