RELEVANCY OF CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY AND ITS PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (1).

If necessity is the mother of invention, then opportunity is the father. And thankfully, there are still some people who view problems less as obstacles and more as opportunities. Recession always seem to be a problem to the economy of any nation but honestly there are great opportunity therein as it enables the wise nation to strengthen their respective weaknesses. We all agree that we lack good government in Nigeria but our problems are more than government alone. One of the major problems that our government has is inability to set priority and bring best out of our resources; instead we are fun of political propaganda. We are bless with enough resources as a nation no doubt, but why are we not making best use of our resources for the national development of our nation. The issue is not to criticize the government but to use my professional understanding as quantity surveyor to buttress the effect of construction industry in economy development of a country.

Construction is a very diverse industry that includes activities ranging from mining, quarrying to construction of infrastructure and buildings, the manufacture and supply of products, as well as maintenance operation and disposal. Construction industry is one of the widest contributors to any government development growth and that is why it gives definition to develop and developing nations in terms of infrastructural differences. Construction output in UK is more than ￡110 billion per annul and it contributes 7% of GDP (ref: Government Construction Strategy) and in which approximately a quarter of construction output is public sector and three quarters to private sector. Approximately 60% of construction output is new build, whilst 40% is refurbishment and maintenance. This industry plays significant roles in reduction of unemployment as it engages over 15% (Public and Private sectors) of the working class in Nigeria. The industry accounts for approximately three million jobs, 10% of total UK employment (ref: Construction 2025) and includes both manufacturing and services. Construction industry in Nigeria creates an average of 37 jobs per project (ref: Sapient Vendors limited 2016). This indicate prominent role that construction industry play in creation of employment opportunity and development of national economy.

Construction is a high cost, high risk, long-term activity and so its performance is a good indicator of the health of wider economy. Government is interested in the construction industry not only because of the influence of powerful clients but also because the industry is a national economic driver. Construction creates the buildings and infrastructure that support all other economy activities and so it is a necessary component of economy development. Construction is a major employer and user of resources, which creates a stable state. In these respect, then the government is interested in procurement, continuity of work, fragmentation, productivity and performance (Murray & Langord, 2009). Due to enormous need to provide infrastructure across the country, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola voted 62 percent of the mega Ministry to road projects. Fashola whose total budget for the year is put at N433billion, came up with a three-year frame work to utilize the proposed budget out of which N268bn representing 62 percent was allotted to Works, N99bn, an equivalent of 23 percent to Power and N66bn, representing 15 percent to Housing. The Minister made this disclosure while defending the Ministry’s budget for 2016 before the Committee on Works at the House of Representatives and Senate. Breaking down the budget, the Minister noted that government is willing to complete the over 200 uncompleted road projects across the country rather than embark on new ones, adding that the completion of the projects will be beneficial to the masses and the nation’s economy. (2016/02/budget-proposal-fashola-votes-62-for-road-projects-15-for-housing)

Despite the understanding of construction industry relevancy to the nation, the value for money and quality assurance is yet to be assured due to inability to improve the industry performance. Performance indicators are measured approached to ensure a better built environment in which both the traditional and modern method of construction are productive. Construction key performance indicators include:-

· Client Satisfaction (Product and Service)

Productivity (Value & Quality)

· Predictability (cost and time)

· Profitability (Marginal monetary value)

· Construction cost (Quantity Surveyors’ prime role)

· Construction Time (Work reliability)

· Safety and defects

Much attention shall be drawn to Client satisfactions which ensure the result of others performance indicators. There are two problems for client: expressing what they want and 

getting this delivered. Client satisfaction can be categorized to many sections while ‘value for money’ is always at the top of client concerns. To ensure value for money in construction contract the four construction broad economies must be satisfy. These construction economies include :-

· Financial economy

· Functional economy

· Social economy 

· Whole-life economy.

The highlighted economies are not restricted to monetary satisfaction of the client but value, quality and product satisfaction which gives the prime reason for client desires. Functional economy expresses relationship between the function of monetary value and the function of construction contracts product while social economy involves a long-term integration of a construction project into an environment. This ranged from belief that construction project is part of an engineering of society that encourage conducive standard of living in relation to social standard. Construction performance will result to good infrastructure and social amenities that will attract competent and reliable investors to the country.

ODUNMBAKU IDOWU OLUYEMI.

Quantity Surveyor

16th August, 2017