… Dogbegah tells built environmental professionals
Government’s plans of industrializing the country will involve the built environment players who are key stakeholders which therefore call for the need to develop the appropriate synergies to help the government achieve its aim, Mr. Rockson Dogbegah chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries, AGI, Construction sector chair has said.
Speaking at the Presidential Ball of the 13th Surveyors Week and 49th Annual General Meeting, Mr Dogbegah said, “Unfortunately, the built environment professional associations in Ghana have since independence operated like silos, with very minimal collaboration.”
For this reason, he pointed out that, “Success can only be maximized if built environment professionals collaborate effectively in project delivery.”
However, surveyors, engineers, planners and architects have operated with a silo mentality although no institution is likely to survive in its mandate as an island in this information age.
Perhaps, the lack of collaboration accounts for the haphazard developments emerging all over the country and rampant building collapses, Dogbegah opined.
This behaviour raises a number of questions, Dogbegah said.
Citing an instance, he asked, “What is preventing the built environment professional institutions and associations from having a common front to champion a construction industry development agenda?
“Why is it so difficult for some professional quantity surveyors to educate clients about the contract conditions that allow for delayed payments to contractors?” Dogbegah questioned. And, is it a crime for surveyors to approve payment of interest on delayed payment?” Dogbegah added.
Speaking on the theme, “Industrialization and Wealth Creation in Ghana: The Role of the Surveyor”, he said, the role of the surveyor is a call to duty, professionalism and the understanding that the surveying profession is critical to Ghana’s economic health.
Therefore, the surveying profession remains a pivot if the government’s industrialization drive is to succeed.
The construction industry, which includes the surveying profession, is estimated to be contributing about eight percent to the gross domestic product, GDP, on the average in the last decade, whereas in the third quarter of 2017, it grew by 2.6 percent.
Dogbegah said, “While it is important for land surveyors to develop their layouts; planners to plan our cities, the engineers and architects to design the built environment, the quantity surveyors to cost and manage the projects, and the estate surveyors to manage the industrial properties, collaboration among these professionals is key to effective implementation of government’s industrialization drive.”
By Joshua W. Amlanu
