File picture: Ivan Alvarado File picture: Ivan Alvarado
Johannesburg - Quantity surveyors could help stamp out corruption, the industry’s professional body announced.
Larry Feinberg, the executive director of the Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (Asaqs), said the association had already issued a warning that the tendency to omit cost-controlling quantity surveyors from public sector projects could lead to spiralling construction costs and would encourage corruption.
“We are, therefore, gratified to note that the Ministry of Finance has included quantity surveyors in the team appointed to investigate the costs relating to the recent Constitutional Court finding on the Nkandla project.
“But it is imperative that the services of credible and responsible quantity surveyors be employed right at the outset of any major public sector project so that costs are controlled and potential corruption avoided from the outset of any project,” he said.
Feinberg said as long as the costs of construction projects in South Africa were not professionally verified and controlled, each one would pose a threat to the economic welfare of the country.
Verification
He urged that South Africa formally adopt a value-for-money principle to fight corruption in the construction sector.
The fast-track settlement process was launched by the Competition Commission after it uncovered widespread anti-competitive practices in the industry, resulting in the commission in 2013 concluding consent agreements with 15 construction companies in terms of which the firms agreed to pay penalties totalling R1.46 billion for collusion and bid-rigging.
This led to competition commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele confirming last month that he wanted “serious reforms” in the industry, including changes to construction industry regulations, such as procurement regulations and practices.
Feinstein said there still seemed to be alarming ignorance about the vital role quantity surveyors played in and could contribute to building projects both in the public and private sector.
“Too often the inclusion of a quantity surveyor in a project professional team is seen as a dispensable, additional cost. However, a competent quantity surveyor… will provide the certainty and control a project needs, while also helping to reduce costs,” he said.
Feinstein added that major building projects tended to become complex undertakings right from the outset and could become more complicated when design changes were introduced without the client and professional team realising the cost implications.
This was when the skills of a quantity surveyor were particularly essential because they could handle any unforeseen procurement and management revisions, allowing architects and the rest of the professional team to concentrate on their own tasks, he said.
Feinstein urged the South African government to follow the example of Nigeria in employing reputable quantity surveyors to stamp out corruption and inflated construction costs.
He said the Nigerian government had recently urged the Quantity Surveyors’ Registration Board of Nigeria to co-operate with key national institutions and anti-corruption agencies to wipe out corruption.
“Nigeria realises that the expertise of construction economists, particularly quantity surveyors, hold the key to unraveling the mystery behind high project costs, often ostensibly caused by ‘perceived risks’ that are converted into monetary values added to the overall project costs,” he said.
Feinstein warned that entrusting the cost-factoring and expenditure control on multibillion-rand projects to such bogus “professionals” would merely exacerbate the situation and create more opportunities for corruption.
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