The Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana has appealed to government agencies not to be too quick to find faults in the collapse of the Melcom Shopping Mall building but rather find the lapses in the system that resulted in the tragedy and apply a lasting solutions to address them.
According to the Ghana Armed Forces, the incident which happened in the early hours of November 7, 2012, has so far claimed 14 lives, 68 people reportedly rescued with various degree of injuries and nine staff still missing or uncounted for. Other unconfirmed sources have the number of the dead from the collapse building at 22 including casualties at the hospital.
Expressing their condolence to the bereaved families and affected victims, the group said “We want to use this opportunity to urge government to see the unfortunate collapse of the Malcom building as a wakeup call for a holistic approach to issues of regulations, and standards.”
According to them, “There are many other tragedies waiting to occur and it is only when we address the lapses that we would avert them.”
In a communiqué issued at the end of a two day Africa Construction Development Conference in Ghana, by the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG) with support from the Chartered Institute of Building, the group stressed that “Getting an effective regulator in place in the shortest possible time is the ultimate approach”.
They therefore call on government as a matter of urgency to commence action leading to the establishment of a regulatory body backed by an Act of Parliament with the main purpose of protecting consumers of the contractor’s services and the general public.
The body which will see to the growth and development of the industry and will perform the following functions; regulation, promotion and development of the construction industry, formulate and implement regulations and policies aimed at creating an enabling environment for the efficient operation and growth of the construction industry.
Other functions of the proposed regulatory body shall include registering local and foreign contractors in the construction industry, regulate the activities and conduct of all contractors in the construction industry and other stakeholders in the construction industry, set criteria for registration of contractors in different classes and review these criteria from time to time, verify and ensure that all construction works are being undertaken by registered contractors, ensure that all construction works comply with governing regulations and laws of the country.
Also the regulatory body is to monitor projects, develop skills and capacity of local contractors, promote standardization of procurement procedures, codes of conduct, contractual procedures, and best practices for contractors, consultants and other stakeholders in the construction industry, liase and interact with local and international professional boards and association and publish and disseminate information related to the construction industry among other functions that be deem fit.
During the 2 day conference on the theme “sanitizing and developing the construction industry; the role of a regulator,” speakers and participants observed that the construction industry is very crucial to the economy of the country and that Public Private Partnership was key to the delivery of infrastructure.
The conference also observed that change in government has adverse effect on the industry such as abrogation or discontinuation of government projects, noting that “Related to it is the divisive situation where each party in government has its own set contractors. This is not acceptable. The industry should be allowed to develop devoid of partisan politics”.
During the opening ceremony of the conference, Nii Nortey Dua, Deputy Minister of Water Resource Works and Housing, praised the Association for being at the forefront of ensuring sanity in the construction sector. He said the National Development Planning Committee is putting a plan in place to address some of the challenges that faces the industry.
He observed that other countries are working assiduously to improve upon their infrastructure base. According to him, Ghana is financially handicapped to improve its infrastructure base and therefore government has to depend on construction companies with the financial muscle to undertake such big project by themselves. He pointed out that government would have wished that these projects go to Ghanaian companies.
Hon Nortey Dua pledge government’s preparedness to consider the outcome and suggestions that would emerge from the conference.
Hon Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, said coming from the background of the Melcom tragedy, it is very important that Ghanaians take professionalism in the construction industry seriously. She indicated that the construction industry is very crucial to the economy of the country, noting that that past few years the demand for cement keeps growing.
She discredited the rumour that all projects to be undertaken with the China Development Loan will be executed by the Chinese. She explained that a minimum of 40percent local content has been included in the loan agreement, meaning Ghanaian constructors will have a role to play in the railway infrastructure, gas infrastructure, fisheries (land sites) infrastructural projects.
According to her, part of the problem of Ghanaian companies is that they are very small and therefore proposed partnerships to strengthen their capacity.
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