The Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu has told small contractors and developers to stop selling Government housing tenders to big construction companies for quick money for short term luxuries.

“Government wants to develop you from being CIDB 1 to CIDB 4, the selling of tenders to advanced contractors does not help us in developing contractors for tomorrow, we want hard workers not those who want short term luxuries”, said Sisulu.

Minister Sisulu and the Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality (NMBMM), Danny Jordaan today met small medium contractors and developers of the NMBMM to present a package of support to develop small and medium contractors.

The package responds to the need for training, developing and mentoring of contractors, developing a credible and fair database of suppliers and fast tracking of quality human settlements delivery.

“All spheres of Government, National, Provincial and Metro are committed to developing small contractors to become big players in the construction industry.

We have developed a package of support programmes to be implemented by Human Settlements agencies, National Home Builders Regulatory Council (NHBRC), Housing Development Agency (HDA) and all layers of Government to help you with finances and skills development, we are here to help small contractors” Sisulu said.

The Executive Mayor added that the Metro will pay all contractors within the stipulated 30 days. “The Metro will work hard to pay on time, contractors must ensure that they also do their part, they must meet all our regulations to ensure quality. We are about quality human settlements and fast tracked delivery” said Jordaan.

The more than 400 contractors registered in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro database of builders who attended the workshop committed to the training and support Programme and emphasised their commitment to building quality houses.