By Chris Ochayi

THE Federal Government has been advised to deploy more resources towards funding of road  projects, adding that huge investments in building industry is the quickest solution to getting the country out of the current economic recession.

Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN, which gave the advice in a communiqué issued at the end of its summit in Abuja, said road construction promotes trade, employment generation and improve standard of living in any country.

The 2017 National Project Cost Reduction summit tagged “Fighting Corruption through Proper Project Costing in Nigeria” was organised by Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN.

Road under construction

The QSRBN according to the communiqué, attributed the present state of dilapidated state of roads and highways network in Nigeria to inadequate maintenance works, lack of enforcement of axle load limits on roads/bridges etc.

While noting that corruption promotes decayed infrastructure in a nation and causes inflation of project cost for pecuniary interest, the Board observed that, “High cost of construction projects can be reduced through the involvement of quantity surveyors in the development of infrastructure for roads, highways, bridges, railway and airport.

It also advocated the establishment of construction cost information system and a National construction cost data base is a panacea for high project costs.

The body in addressing some of the observations, recommended that putting in place proper project costing by registered quantity surveyors will help curb corruption and high project cost, insisting that the quantity surveyor should work alongside designers to reduce project cost.

It also recommended that “Necessary institutional arrangements and legal framework should be put in place to promote good governance, transparency, checks and balances and value for money,” adding, “Value for money should be the focal point in infrastructure development to aid the socio-economic development of Nigeria”.

The Board said among other things that, “Teamwork among construction professionals should be encouraged to promote synergy and reduce project cost. There is urgent need for a Construction Summit to emphasise the imperative of teamwork among construction professionals as a recipe for project success. The function of design and supervision should be separated from the function of costing and payment valuation for checks and balances, transparency, accountability and good governance.

“Engineers for engineering projects and Architects for building projects should focus on design and supervision function, while Quantity surveyors should focus on costing and payment valuation function on both engineering and building projects to promote transparency, accountability, good governance and value for money. Registered Quantity surveyors should be given greater role in the implementation of the National infrastructure Master plan for better resource allocation and value for money.

“Nigerian professionals should be properly grounded on matters of professional ethics and good professional conduct, while erring professionals should be disciplined and penalised in line with global best practices. There is need for government support to QSRBN to establish national construction data base with functional construction cost infrastructure system”, the summit noted.