GhIS cuts sod for Centre of Excellence
The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) has broken ground for a Centre of Excellence that would house an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Unit, Value for Money (VfM) Unit and a Data Processing Centre.
The centre would also serve as a hub for advanced training, cutting-edge research, and technological innovation.
The two-storey prefabricated container-based architecture facility will have a reception and entrance lounge, a 220-seater conference hall, a 30-seater training centre, meeting rooms, a breakout area and offices.
The facility will also have a library, storeroom, washrooms, a kitchen, a terrace and other circulating spaces, and a two-stop elevator.
Sod-cutting ceremony
At a brief sod-cutting ceremony in Accra on Tuesday, May 6, the President of the GhIS, Kofi Obeng-Ayirebi, said the centre would foster cross-sector collaboration, serving not only surveyors, but engineers, architects, planners and policymakers.
“Through internationally certified training programmes in ADR, cost engineering, valuation and data analytics, the centre will nurture a workforce equipped for a data-driven, modern economy,” he said.
He added that the centre would respond directly to challenges such as budget overruns and financial inefficiencies, prolonged land litigations, and reliable data for informed decision-making by contributing professional and ethical solutions aligned with the government's transformation agenda.
Minimise cost
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, expressed concern about the quality of work, skyrocketing cost of delivering projects and the efficacy of the contracts written in the country.
He called on players in the built industry to re-examine what to do to reduce the risk of projects and minimise cost.
“I am calling for a re-examination of what we all do, architects, engineers, civil engineers, surveyors, to find out whether we can find a way of reducing the risk of projects that are not fit for purpose, and also do it more efficiently to minimise cost.
“A lot of government public projects are stalled simply because of issues of valuation,” he stated.
He suggested that the Centre of Excellence should be used to train members of GhIS to become value-for-money auditing individuals.
Mr Agbodza also called for the review of how contracts were written, stating that the Ghana Public Procurement Authority was in the process of providing standard contracts.
“I have read some contracts written between the government and even local contractors.
I am aware that in this country, you are not supposed to quote the rent of a house built in foreign currency, but individuals at the ministries are writing contracts in foreign currency, and actually write in the contract ‘we shall pay you in US dollars’.
It is a pure crime against the state,” he said.
He also stated that the government’s flagship infrastructure project, the “Big Push Agenda”, was an engineering endeavour, which would depend on engineers, quantity surveyors and project managers.
“If we don't exercise our professionalism, that project, like any other project, could be started and may not be completed in time.
“There's a reason, as a Minister of Road and Highways to date, I have actually not awarded a single road project, not because I don't intend to, but because I don't see my job as just awarding contracts without properly understanding what we are going to face ahead,” he said.
He urged the public not to be impatient when their roads were not fixed, since they wanted to do things differently through research.
