Surveyors unhappy about influx of foreign professionals

The Ghana Institution of Surveyors(GIS) has called on government to engage more local professionals and technicians to undertake projects in the country.

The influx of foreign surveyors to handle projects in the country, the Institution’s President Edwin Addo-Tawiah said, remains a fundamental challenge to Ghanaian surveyors as they are often left with very little to do in the maintenance of said projects in the absence of original contractors.

This, when addressed, he noted could save the country some revenue and allow for exchange of knowledge by ensuring foreign contractors partner local ones in all stages of construction work.

“The influx of foreign professionals into the country to also undertake surveying is a challenge for us. For instance, when the Conference Centre and National Theatre had to be renovated they had to bring those who did the work from China because Ghanaians could not interpret the plans which were in Chinese.

“There are quantity surveyors who come from South Africa and other places to supervise projects, and we think the Ghanaian content must be increased or must be given some recognition in terms of the materials we use.

“So, we are asking that even if the grant or loan is from a foreign country - and for that matter, their contractor needs to do the work - we have to partner in most of the levels or phases in making decisions and implementing the project. In that way, when there is a problem after completion of the project the Ghanaian content will be able to correct any defect, or do renovations on the legacy projects left,” he said.

Mr. Addo-Tawiah made this appeal in an interview with the B&FT on the sidelines of the 2017 Annual Quantity Surveyors Seminar held in Accra.

The two-day seminar, which was held under the theme ‘Expanding the Frontiers of Infrastructural Development in Ghana,’ seeks to provide surveyors an opportunity to take stock of the institution’s performance in the previous year, and also assess its impacts on the society.

Another challenge confronting the profession, the group’s head reiterated, is the absence of a council to regulate the profession in the country.

The Survey Council bill, Mr. Addo-Tawiah said, will among other things curb the activities of quack surveyors who promote the land guard menace.

“The Survey Council bill, which has been deliberated upon at the Lands Commission and will be moved to the Attorney General and the minister of Works and Housing, then for onward submission to Cabinet then to Parliament, and we hope by next year the bill will become an Act,” he said.