Flaws in the building construction sector
File picture of Chinese workers at a construction site in Colombo
The crisis in Sri Lanka has become a hot topic not only here, but in the region as well. While this is obviously due to mismanagement of the economy as a whole, this article is an attempt to analyse the building construction and related activities by the state that would have contributed to the financial crisis of today. Some important suggestions have been identified for future reference to bring the “system” to order.
Let’s start with Sri Lanka’s most notable city planning project that happened in late ‘70s when President J.R. Jayewardene (JRJ) decided to name Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (SJK) as the administrative capital of Sri Lanka. At that time, the National Physical Planning Department (NPPD) after much study, had realised the need to control the expansion of the city of Colombo to keep the Colonial glory, and had identified the Homagama area as the most suitable to shift the city. It’s not too far, connects to the inland areas and has lot of high land for development. But JRJ overlooked this long planned decision and brought the administrative capital to SJK which was too close to Colombo, very little high land and lots of low-lying areas. It became a major transportation problem and expensive solutions were being sought. For whatever the reason JRJ decided on this move, gradually the administrative activities shifted to SJK beginning with the Parliament. But his lawyer-brother intervened in moving the courts to SJK, saying Hulftsdorp is the place for the courts.
The headquarters of the three armed forces and the Police were also being moved to SJK. While the forces have moved to a massive complex recently, the Police were left behind. All of a sudden last year the Government decided to construct the Police Headquarters at Attidiya, Dehiwala; a clear deviation of city planning. The Attidiya land has a bleak past. During the Chandrika Kumaranatunga regime, a police training school was proposed and construction commenced. This was done in a mighty hurry, so much so the precast piles were imported from Malaysia to cut down construction time. However after spending millions of rupees, the project was abandoned after completing the piling. Now the new proposed Police HQ is being built in this premises apparently ignoring what is lying underneath.
The same NPPD in the late ‘70s planned the second international airport to be in Hingurakgoda which a very central area. This was based on links to the interior of the country and with special reference to tourist development. But we know where it was built, in another corner of the country. What returns has it brought us so far?
The famous Lotus “Kuluna” in Colombo is another project where the investment has been wasted. No provision in the national budget, no feasibility study, no rate of return on investment etc, etc. What are these “Telecommunication Towers (TT)”? In major cities around the world, like in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Toronto etc you find these TTs which were built in the 20th century in line with the telecommunication technology at that time. It looks like when we started the tower itself, this technology was outdated. With the invention of satellite technology, these towers have become redundant. Have we paid over US$120 million for an old piece of technology?
There are many similar examples of this nature that have contributed to the bankruptcy of the country. Another notable one is the 2000-capacity conference hall in Hambantota. To-date less than five major events have been held and with a huge maintenance cost it’s a burden to the country. This is partially sponsored by the Korean Government and was initially planned in Kottawa where it would have been a very successful venture.
The Defence Headquarters is yet another costly project to this country. There was no cost planning or cost control practiced. This project was implemented with the funds of the sales proceeds of the Galle face property (now housing Shangrila Hotel) owned by the Ministry of Defence. They are yet to complete the accommodation part of it. Did we need such a massive structure?
KDU Hospital
The 5-star state hospital in Boralesgamuwa also proves the point of overlooking financial discipline when implementing a state project. It’s more like an airport than a public hospital. Triple heights, 6m wide corridors, central air-conditioning to name a few luxuries that one can see. The operating theatres are the world’s most expensive type and the laboratory samples are transported through a vacuum system not available even in some of the developed countries.
Immediately after this government came to power, four multi-level car parks were initiated in the four corners of Colombo and some are under construction. Now we have no money to import vehicles for many years to come, but have the car parks!
The use of “Design and Build” in building procurement system became very popular among the politicians and bureaucrats in and around 2008. At a seminar organised by the Institute of Architects some shocking facts about a project was revealed. A project where around five tenderers participated had an engineer’s estimate of Rs. 600 million. Four out of five tenders were rejected due to “technical reasons”. The only successful tenderer quoted Rs. 1200 million, twice than expected. This was “negotiated” with this sole tenderer and offered to him at a price of Rs. 900 million!
But the most interesting revelation is that the project ended at a cost of Rs. 1200 million. Nowhere in the world has this type of “Design and Build” procurement methods for building construction practiced where design gets 20 per cent marks and the contractor got 80 per cent! The best method is supposed be in China and Hong Kong where in the first round of the tender 80 per cent goes to design and 20 per cent to the contractor and in the next round the contractor gets 80 per cent while the design gets 20 per cent which guarantees value for money and a quality product.
Today we have a craze for air conditioning (AC) and there is no state policy on this which many other countries have. For example in South Korea there is a maximum temperature that can be reduced in state buildings with a given relative humidity which are the two factors that provide human comfort. The recently completed buildings like the Provincial Council building in Battaramulla, Labour Secretariat in Narahenpita, Passport office/ NIC Office in Battaramulla etc are all centrally air conditioned. Obviously for some buildings it could be essential, but certainly a proper ventilation system could be introduced in many places. There has to be a state policy on AC. Look at the buildings of colonial times, they have maintained bigger heights and large windows and are very comfortable.
Sharing resources
The other area where the funds go waste is the resistance to share the resources. Our universities have auditoriums per faculty in addition to the main one. Each faculty has lecture rooms, halls on their own. No sharing. Leave aside the cost of an auditorium, how much is required to maintain them which are in many instances used very sparingly? But look at the world scenario, the lecture rooms/halls, auditoriums are common and they are used through a computer-generated rotation to get the maximum usage; hence they are occupied most of the time. There is lot of disparity on the distribution of resources. In most of the rural schools there are no toilets for students as well as for teaches.
The above clearly indicates the lack of a national decision-making system when initiating building projects, an inability to prioritise the national needs, severe imbalance of the distribution of resources, old aged social egos, frustrating wasteful procurement systems, and political and bureaucratic interference have caused our national wealth to dwindle through the building construction sector too. I wish to propose some suggestions that could alleviate them in the expected “System Change” that we are all looking forward to:
- Update the National Physical Plan for the country in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
- Equal distribution of resources to be maintained at national level.
- A clear policy on standard facilities given to officials, staff and visitors. Sharing of resources within an entity to be standardised.
- When the national budget is prepared refer the NPPD plan and implement the projects depending on the priority and the availability of funds. No project to be initiated without allocating funds which will be kept reserved for it.
- Establish the Procurement Commission again with suitable adjustment where it will have wider powers for checks
and balances.
Use IT
- Use IT technology as the mode of operation not as a supplementary to the traditional systems in the construction sector, starting from approvals.
- Disallow cabinet papers that overrides the NPPD plans and awarding consultancy and construction projects directly to selected parties unless in the case of an emergency. Use a more user-friendly competitive bidding system to secure projects where the most responsive bids will win the tender.
- Break down large projects into separate packages where all will stand a chance to participate in the government’s development programmes. (There had been many instances where all the projects were given to one party).
- Conduct design competitions with the participation of architects, engineers and quantity surveying institutes for nationally important projects where young talent could emerge. In many countries like India, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan and China and even in the European countries this is very popular.
- Give more responsibility to professionals which will ease state controls and request their respective institutions to maintain professionalism.
(The writer is a Past President Sri Lanka Institute of Architects and Chairman Architects Registration Board)
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