The safety and structural integrity of the Society House tower building located in Lusaka’s central business district along Cairo road which had first been raised in 2020 has come back with two engineering firms getting suspended.
The Engineering Institute of Zambia –EIZ has suspended the membership of BICON and BCHOD, both Consulting Engineering firms following the irregularities revealed after a joint investigation conducted by the EIZ technical committee and the government’s Joint Investigative Team – JIT on society house and the Ndola-Mufulira-Mokambo road.
Addressing the Media in Lusaka attended by the Zambian Business Times –ZBT, EIZ President Abel Ngandu disclosed that this came after the request of the Joint Investigation Team where EIZ was invited to review the Ndola Mukambo Mufulira road project.
Ngandu explained that in the interest of the general public, the technical committee constituted a team of expert to review the technical audit reports of the work that were conducted so far. He said the technical audit report revealed a lot of irregularities of great concern to the profession.
“EIZ has since referred the matter to the disciplinary committee in a bid to protect public interest.” He said. When asked by ZBZ how long the suspension is, EIZ President said it is up to the disciplinary committee to determine the time frame.
The EIZ President however mentioned that the suspension is due to the gravity of the matter, EIZ has suspended their membership as governed by the EIZ statutes. Ngandu however could not reveal the actual irregularities, stating that the matter was before the government’s JIT working with the EIZ. EIZ has since urged its Members to strictly follow the code of conduct and provisions of the EIZ act.
In 2020, issues surrounding concerns over the structural integrity and the need to strengthen the columns of the Society House Tower were raised with BICON reporting that 153 columns of the total of 258 columns were found to have lower than the specified design capacity of the specified concrete strength. More to follow
