Speakers at a roundtable dialogue on Wednesday identified quality assurance as a big challenge for the country’s construction industry.
Lack of necessary technical knowledge and the increasing trend of constructional material prices can be a big impediment for quality construction— the experts said.
Their views came at a roundtable dialogue on ‘Construction Sector: Opportunities and Challenges’ held in the city.
LafargeHolcim Bangladesh in collaboration with The Financial Express organised the event.
“There is a considerable amount of confusion and lack of technical knowledge when it comes to construction sector in the country”, said Dr Toufiq M. Seraj, Managing Director of Sheltech, one of the leading construction firms in the country.
“At the same time, there is also a lack of supervision or monitoring by the authority to ensure quality”, he added.
Mr Seraj also identified the increasing trend of construction material prices as an impediment for quality construction.
He also called for implementing safety measures at construction sites and ensuring the quality of construction materials to assure better construction schemes in the country.
Meanwhile, speakers at the event also emphasised proper training of construction workers and engineers, as well as further decentralisation of big cities for healthy growth of the construction sector.
Speaking on the occasion, editor of The Financial Express Shah Husain Imam said, “While the real estate sector is making increased contribution to the GDP growth, the increased cost of construction materials or the escalated cost of construction is undercutting some of the GDP growth as well”.
“So, it is important to quantify how much is added and how much is deducted from the GDP through this process”, he added.
The FE editor also called for increased mutual dialogue between the regulators and other actors of the construction sector for enhanced growth of this industry.
“Currently, 30 percent of Bangladesh’s population live in two big cities namely Dhaka and Chittagong”, said Rajesh Surana, Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh.
“However, with major boom in power and infrastructure, new cities and townships have to be built— which means more and more construction has to come”, he said.
Rupali Chowdhury, managing director of Berger Paints, F R Khan managing director of BTI and Commodore Mamun Chowdhury, project director of Ashrayan Project of the Prime Minister’s Office, among others, also spoke during the event.