The Quantity Surveying Division of GhIS has began an advocacy towards integrating value management into infrastructure procurement.
This is to ensure that all stakeholders, including government and professional surveyors, are involved from the inception of procurement towards public infrastructural projects to the completion in order to avoid shoddy works and promote value for clients and other stakeholders.
The conversation began at the on-going 2025 Quantity Surveying Division Conference at Cape Coast in the Central Region.
The advocacy has become very necessary, especially at the time the government is launching it flagship programme “The Big Push “ which is a National Infrastructure Development programme.
The theme of this year’s Conference is “ Integrating Value Engineering into Infrastructural Procurement.”
Close to 300 Quantity Surveyors are taking part in this years annual general meeting taking place in Cape Coast.
The conversation is taking place at the time government flagship programme the “Big Push” which is about 10 billion dollars national infrastructural development programme is about being implemented.
Quantity Surveyors play a crucial role in value management, working together to optimize project outcomes.
The Ghanaian construction industry plays a central role in the country’s socio-economic development by providing the infrastructure backbone for health, education, housing, energy, and transportation.
However, the industry continues to grapple with recurring challenges, including cost overruns, delays, poor-quality delivery, limited use of local materials, and inadequate consideration of sustainability throughout project life cycles.
These problems often stem from procurement practices that prioritize the lowest initial cost over long-term value, as well as the limited integration of structured cost-management tools.
These and many other challenges have informed the theme for this year’s meeting.
The President of the Institution, Surv. Kofi Obeng Ayirebi noted that value engineering’s is not just about cutting costs at the expense of quality but rather about optimizing function, improving performance, and maximizing value for every Cedi spent during project execution.
The Chairman of the Quantity Surveying Division of G h IS, Surv. Osei Agyemang-Badu, drew government’s attention to
the fact that the money they invest in projects should not only be looked at as cutting cost at the initial stages.
They should rather consider meeting the expectations of clients and in this case, the public.
The Chair-person of the Continuous Professional Development Sub-Committee, of Quantity Surveyors Division, Dr. Naa Adjeley A. Doamekpor was concerned about the many issues and concerns the public has been raising regarding the quality of public infrastructure.
This means the public may not be getting the value they seek.
According to her, the conference is deliberating on how to ensure the public get value, especially when it comes to public infrastructural projects.
