Transparent times

The building collapse in Sharjah last week wasn't exactly greeted with gasps of horror in the Construction Week newsroom. With all due respect, it spoke volumes about what people have to expect from construction in the region. And that is what was really horrifying.

This is the third structure in the UAE to have collapsed in three months. In August, a building in Deira collapsed while the roof of a mall that was being built in Ajman came down last month. And though only decorative parts of a ceiling in Ibn Battuta mall fell down, it adds to the list of construction nightmares in the region.

For years there's been talk of the lack of quality on numerous developments, so it shouldn't really come as that much of a surprise if a few buildings around us begin to crumble. Company bosses, project managers, fire-safety professionals and even construction workers have been warning this would happen, but yet the enforcement of building codes still seems to be on the backburner.

Experts in the region have highlighted the dire need to enforce building safety regulations but not much progress seems to have been made. As far as common sense goes, a lack of enforcement of regulations is as good as them never being there in the first place.

Calls for transparency are now at the top of the list, and rightly so. Transparency increases quality and weeds out any illegal practices. The Deira building collapse is still a mystery despite there being a full-fledged investigation. Half-baked answers have been released and no hard results of the investigation have been made public. And this makes one wonder - are the results of the investigation so embarrassing that they have to be kept under wraps? Are there practices going on that shouldn't be? Or are the on-site inspectors not really inspecting?

A tiny window of truth opened up last week. After the Sharjah car park collapse, which saw six workers taken to hospital and could have potentially killed another 100, Sultan Al Mualla, the director general of Sharjah Municipality admitted that building inspectors had visited the under-construction site the previous day and reported it to be in "good condition."

So what exactly did these inspectors' check lists include? Are building materials inspected before construction begins or do inspectors only arrive on site mid-construction? And are underperforming inspectors held responsible?

The recent happenings can't even be passed off as one-offs, because they're not. Three collapses in two months don't qualify as one-offs. If operations are made transparent, developers, contractors, workers. inspectors, everyone will miraculously begin to toe the line. Transparency is as much a market-force as are demand and supply, so why not let it work for the greater good?

Conrad Egbert is the editor of Construction Week.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Why do the buildings keep falling down?
Posted by Timon_Singh on Friday 13 November 2009 at 17:45 UAE time


The building in Deira, the one in Ajman.... it is a strange situation though with the large number of construction worker deaths, it does make one wonder what the hell is happening on the sites in terms of safety standards and protocol.

http://www.menainfra.com/news/middle-eastern-construction-deaths/

Egxcellent comment
Posted by Rajesh, Al Ain, UAE on Sunday 18 October 2009 at 16:06 UAE time


Dear John, I wouldn't say this scribe was an egxpert on the subject by a long shot. And is it three collapses in two months or three months?! But I agree, obviously his bosses must have beaten some of that fluffy drivel out of him.

Sensible comment, for once, from the Egxpert
Posted by John, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 18 October 2009 at 09:33 UAE time


Having laboured through several previous submissions from this scribe it is pleasing to note that for once he is on the money and talks about a subject he comprehends and is something of an authority on.

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