Challenges Facing the Construction Industry in Developing Countries

A successful construction industry is essential to us all. Benefits from efficiently constructed buildings and infrastructures are well known and we all benefit from them. If we are prepared to challenge the waste and poor performance arising from existing practices and focus efforts on delivering the value that our customers need we can attain and sustain continuos improvement in the industry. Theme B is the topic of this presentation. It is not easy to sustain radical improvement in a diverse industry as construction, specially with the constraints of developing countries. Five key areas of change are identified to set the agenda for the industry at large: • Committed Leadership • Focus on the customer • Integrated process and teams • Quality driven agenda • Commitment to people Ambitious targets and effective performance measurements are essential to deliver improvement. Proposals for a series of targets for annual improvements are made. Extensive use of performance data by the industry to inform the clients is to be seen. To achieve these targets the industry will need to make radical changes to the process of project delivery. We must do so to secure our own future. It is a challenge to the industry to commit itself to change.