UNDOUBTEDLY, the local building and construction sector has been transformed to one of the most active ones and has been expanding at a very rapid rate, creating thousands of jobs and contributing significantly to our economic growth, which has been showing robust growth in the last five years despite a global financial crisis.
This rapid growth of the building and construction sector no doubt is due to the huge housing programme and massive infrastructural work ongoing across the country to meet the growing need for roads, bridges, drainage and irrigation, new schools, hospitals, etc.
In fact, because of the boom in the construction sector, building materials became short on several occasions as suppliers could not keep pace with the rate of construction.
The government’s housing programme, in particular, has been a resounding success with thousands of Guyanese receiving house lots and realising their dream of owning their homes.
But while increased volume of construction is important and most welcome, at the same time, there has to be focus on adherence to building codes and regulations and quality of construction.
In this regard, several contractors have been guilty of doing sub-standard work over the years and this is something we have to seriously clamp down on because it results in millions of taxpayers dollars going down the drain and people not receiving the desired services. In some cases, the lives and limbs of people are under severe threat.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for the firm implementation of quality control systems, something in which we lack both technical and human resources and consequently we should move swiftly and assiduously to build and enhance capacity in this crucial area.
But on an optimistic note, with respect to this issue, Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali has indicated that this year’s International Building Exposition will “open the future building and construction landscape” of Guyana,  and “we are looking at building to mitigate against natural disasters, ensuring that consumers get high-quality products, ensuring that building standards and codes are maintained”.
To this end, Ali reminded that his ministry is now set to rigidly enforce building codes and standards, and guidelines.
“So this building expo is to highlight the importance of standards as we try to build a future that is strong, buildings that can withstand predictions of the future, and to ensure that our infrastructural landscape is one that can withstand any test of quality, etc,” he stated.
Mr. Ali certainly hit the nail on its head and it is good to see that his ministry will embark upon and implement measures to rigidly enforce building codes and regulations.
What is equally important too is  that these building codes and regulations should be reviewed periodically to amend them where necessary and bring them up to date with international, scientific and technological standards because they may be outdated in some instances and out of sync with modern building standards.
The Cement Trust Coalition, in an article titled, ‘Guns Don’t Kill People, Shovels Do’, sums it up aptly: “A coalition of concrete construction experts has emerged to stop shovels from killing people. In poor nations where cement is mixed on the ground with shovels, buildings collapse when disaster hits because of the poor construction methods. The Cement Trust Coalition aims to turn first-world business knowledge into third-world construction assets, saving both money and lives. The Cement Trust Coalition will lead a movement of corporate, government and non-profit entities to train contractors and inspectors to help change the culture of poor and structurally inadequate concrete construction. Investing in appropriate concrete construction methods will save billions of dollars and thousands of lives. As examples, recent earthquakes in Chile, New Zealand and Japan produced relatively small losses of life and property compared to the losses caused by a far less powerful quake in Haiti which killed over 300,000 people.”

It is in this context that the government should be lauded for its efforts, so far, as well as its signalled commitment to ensure that Guyana is no longer exposed to the dangers inherent in the persistent neglect to follow appropriate building codes in this country.