ADDIS ABABA – Experts urged institutions to reduce unnecessary cost in the construction industry resulting from poor planning and absence of transparency.
Approached by The Ethiopian Herald,Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation Public Relations Officer Tinfu Muche said that the major constraints in the area are shortage of input and foreign currency, incomplete design, and legal claims. The corporation is working with stakeholders to solve the aforementioned problems through design revision and facilitating loan in coordination with stakeholders, he stated.
“We are just contractors, therefore when challenges happen, we try to apply to the intended bodies and they solve it through discussion or legal measures.” The major problem in construction design is due to the gap between the plan and the reality on the ground, he noted. Construction Sector Transparency Initiative Ethiopia Country Manager (CoST) Tesfaye Yalew for his part noted that the government ought to give emphasis to ensure value for money.
It is crucial to unveil each stages of a given project and the way it could apply, he believed. As to him, disclosing the whole information of a given project including the significance of time, and money and continual updates is critical to ensure transparency. “We look for institutional transparency in all procedures including the significance of projects, the bid system, the social value and priorities in the project.
” The major reason behind the failure in the country’s construction sector is absence of serious feasibility study, prioritization, proper design and schedule, he underlined. Absence of updated information about the progress of the projects is another reason to the delay and failure, he stated. According to him, CoST is working with universities through offering trainings to 41 of them about the necessity of disclosing project information and the way they can submit the information to the Federal Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency (FPPPA) data system.
However, only the 17 institutions have done based on the training. Recently, the initiative has launched its evaluation of project disclosure of 14 universities in seven projects. Among this, five of the universities are not disclosed the information about their projects. Accordingly, either the institutions have deliberately avoided documents or poor management, believed Tesfaye. Due to this, the institutions have faced 10.6 percent cost overrun on average.
CoST also urged the institutions to compile the result and consistently work in close cooperation with stakeholders including Auditor General, FPPPA and Federal Anticorruption Commission, he said. The information from the ministry of Urban Development and Construction indicated that about 73 grand projects have been constructing since 2016/17 by the federal government. Of which, are 46 buildings and 27 road projects.
Among the projects, 47 and 26 respectively are being undertaken by local and foreign contractors. However, the report indicated that uneasy number of the projects have shown steady progress due to challenging environment, incomplete design, shortages of input and foreign currency and technology
The Ethiopian Herald, December 25/2018
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
