Zambian government has been urged to extend the incentives given to cement production to the other building materials in order to reduce the cost of construction in the country, Times of Zambia reported on Monday.

It quoted Zambia Institute of Architects (ZIA) president Douglas Katengo as saying here at the weekend that the cost of construction in Zambia has not come down because most of the finished products are expensive.

He said that the government in this year's budget reduced tax on cement production has not helped much because cement constitutes only about 10 percent of the required materials in construction.

"If government can extend incentives given to the production of cement to other building materials it would become affordable to build houses," said Katengo.

Extending incentives to other building materials would revive local manufacturing industries, he said.

He also urged the government to consider giving tax rebates to people building houses for the first time.

Source: Xinhua