About 56,000 construction projects belonging to private and public sector organisations valued at N12tn have been abandoned across the country, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors said on Sunday.
President of NIQS, Abba Tor, said findings by the institute showed that most of the projects were abandoned due to poor research on the monetary estimates required for them.
According to a statement issued by the NIQS in Abuja on Sunday, Tor, who spoke at a workshop, said private and public sector organisations should strive to deliver projects promptly.
“There is the presence of 56,000 abandoned projects worth N12tn scattered across the six geopolitical zones of the country,” he stated.
The NIQS president said the institute was committed to curbing the incidence of project failure and abandonment through the provision of effective construction estimates.
He noted that the key to reducing project failure and abandonment was in well researched and thoroughly conducted construction estimates.
On why some of the abandoned projects exceeded their original contract frame, Tor stated that not all project failures were caused by corruption.
He explained that most projects failed due to lack of precise estimates required before embarking on construction in an era of price fluctuation.
Tor said the objective of the workshop was to upscale the skillset of NIQS members as well as deepen their knowledge in the tools and techniques of estimating for projects, especially in the face of emerging technologies.
“Estimating is key in ensuring that resources that are supposed to go into construction are well computed and captured so that projects will be delivered in terms of expectations and value,” he stated.
He admitted that the galloping cost of construction materials was beyond the surveyor, but added that as professionals, their responsibility was to ensure that they estimated the cost of materials as accurately and precisely as possible.
Source: Punch
