The Online Guide to the Namibian Economy
The Online Guide to the
Namibian Economy
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The Online Guide to the
Namibian Economy
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Construction
Namibia’s construction sector consists of a wide range of companies from small informal one-person operations to large multi-national companies. In principle, barriers to entry are low and the sector is open to competition from outside Namibia. The industry is focused on meeting domestic demand and therefore dependent on levels of private and public investment in buildings and construction work. Given the disproportionate size of Namibia’s public sector, the industry is highly dependent on central, regional, and local government as well as the large public enterprise sector for business. This means the state of the public finances are an important driver of demand and the efficiency and fairness of the public tendering process critical in determining which companies get which contracts.
Ministry of Works and Transport and Other Public Agencies
The Ministry of Works and Transport is the key policy-making institution for the industry headed by the Minister of Works and Transport, since March 2025 the Honourable Veikko Nekundi. Namibia has no formal policy on construction. The Namibia Civil Aviation Authority falls under the Ministry. The Roads Contractor Company is a commercial public enterprise residing under the Ministry. It was intended to become directly involved in road construction and allocated a fixed proportion of public work on roads. However, is not currently operational despite continuing to receive support from the national budget.
For many years the idea of establishing a National Planning and Construction Council has been under discussion to bring together a broad range of industry stakeholders to reach agreement on the range of issues confronting the sector from competition and protection to tendering and local preferences. It is not clear what the current status of the Council is.
Namibia’s construction sector is covered by a sector-wide pension fund called the Namibia Building Workers Pension Fund designed to enable low-income construction workers to save for a pension. It involves equal contributions by both employers and employees and is managed by an independent trust.
The construction sector is one of only four sectors in Namibia to be covered by minimum wage legislation with the wage rate being periodically negotiated by the Construction Industry Federation and the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union. The latest agreement was reached in October 2023 setting the minimum wage rate for an unskilled labourer set at N$18.72 per hour. This has not yet been gazetted.
Private Sector
The construction industry consists of a wide spectrum of companies ranging from small and micro enterprises to large Chinese state-owned companies. The Construction Industry Federation of Namibia represents the interests of a large number of these companies.