Steep penalties a good lesson for steelmakers

Nicholas Ngetich assist in controlling a metal that is being used for construction of a storied house at Maziwa road in Kakamega by Zenith Steel Fabricators Ltd. [File, Standard]

The cost of construction has been on the increase in the country in the past few years.

This has often been blamed on the high cost of acquiring building materials such as steel and cement due to inflation blamed, among others, on Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine that has caused shortage of goods. In 2022, the high cost of steel was also partly blamed on the government's ban on scrap metal due to vandalism of key infrastructure.