The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, says contractors who delay national projects must be blacklisted because they fail to honour their obligations with the government.

Despite receiving payment from the government, 319 houses under the mass housing programme at Matutura were not completed because of payment disputes between the main contractor and subcontractors.

Minister Erastus Utoni says there are some contractors nationwide who continue to fail.
This, he says, results in increased costs and unwarranted blame towards government when a project is incomplete.

"This is unacceptable, and I'm calling for stern action against such contractors, including blacklisting them. Be careful; we are serious now. If we give you a job to do and you are telling us many things, we are going to make use of you, and imagine if that is taken from you for the next 10 years. It will not be good for you."

Last year, the Erongo Governor, Neville Andre, made similar remarks against alleged dishonest contractors and advocated for their blacklisting.

Andre, on a visit to several public schools, discovered incomplete renovations of facilities by two contractors despite the government paying such companies.

Andre reported the contractors to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Ministry of Finance and investigations are ongoing.