What are the challenges facing the Construction Industries within Developing Countries?

Introduction

-Ofori…

-Challenges facing construction industry within developing countries.

Sub-topic

–Sustainability – ethical, sourcing, environmental aspects, costing, transportation availability is resources… (how these elements are affecting development of construction within developing countries) – 3000

Financial – economics – 2500 words

Technology – unavailability – resources

Literature Review

• Sustainability- what it is?
• Sustainability in developing countries – main challenges

Research methods for construction

• Different types on methods
• Questionnaire – online

Analysis

• Comparison of literature review and research methods

Opportunities

• Suggestions for developments
• Improvements that can help

Conclusion

• Overview

Abstract

Studies on the construction industries in the developing countries started in the 1960s. The aspects of the subject studied include the key components of the industries, focusing on the problems they were deemed to be facing and what should be done to develop the industries and enhance their performance.

Introduction

Within the construction industry there are many problems and challenges faced, however, in the developing counties these issues are present alongside other challenges such as economic stress (capital investment and suitable funding which can be a huge down fall for these countries), resource shortage, sustainability difficulties and general means of being unable to deal with certain situations.

George Ofori is a well-known specialist in construction management and economics. His main research focus is on improving the capacity and capability of construction industry especially in developing counties. Through his research he has voiced his opinion on this topic of construction within developing countries. Many of his studies suggest that the main issues are globalisation, sustainability, culture and the environment. The paper of Ofori highlights challenges and draws “recent experience of other countries at all levels of development, especially Singapore, to highlight possible ways by which progress can be made in the developing countries” (Ofori n.d.). This research identifies how Singapore has not only developed the city but has also considered the developing areas throughout the country. This notion can be translated towards other developing countries. Although, the construction industry may have these challenges, the industry does not recognise their greatest asset, the people within the developing areas. These people maybe talented and acquire the right skills, however due to the lack of communication these people are not being recognised causing issues in gaining the labour force within the industry (Datta, n.d.).

The research that will be collected will be exploring areas such as the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, China etc which are facing challenges within the construction industry. There is around 85.4% of the world’s population that are living in developing countries where the government are trying to develop these areas in order to achieve “social and economic sustainable development objectives. This is accomplished through constructing infrastructural, industrial, educational, cultural, transportation, medical, and residential projects that provide societies with their needs and fulfil their requirements” (Ahmed 2013).

The purpose of this research topic is to understand and identify the challenges that are faces within the developing countries looking at specifically the construction industry. This dissertation will look into the what the challenges are in some of the developing countries i.e. India, Sri Lanka, China etc. the topic it would focus on mainly will be the sustainable elements that is the challenging issues for these countries, in terms of the sourcing of material, welfare, and to identify what extend do these challenges stop these countries from developing. This research topic could potentially give some ideas on how to reduce these issues and challenges or even eliminate them all together.

A research agenda is presented and the important role of researchers in the drive to improve the performance of the construction industries of the developing countries in the light of their resource constraints and administrative weaknesses, is outlined.

The value of this research topic is that it will identify the current issues that the construction industry is facing within developing countries. It will be beneficial to understand the reasoning behind the challenges by focusing on the point of sustainability. For society and this industry this research paper will discuss the potential suggestions and recommendations that can help to improve the impact these challenges have and help reduce or eliminate these issues entirely.

Sustainability

Sustainability within construction is a topic which has main subsections.

Opportunity

The topic of the discussion at the ARCOM conference is important because there is a pressing need to substantially increase the capacity and capabilities of the construction industries in the developing countries where the majority of the world’s population live because there are significant volumes of basic infrastructure requirements to address in these countries. For example, data from the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (2017a) show that by 2015, 2.3 billion people around the world lacked access to a basic sanitation service and some 850 million people did not have access to basic drinking water services (UNICEF, 2017b). Considering the big task at hand, is it appropriate to continue to try to search for possible ways of improving the capacity and capabilities of the construction industries in developing countries, using the conventional concepts and methods? Are new ways of considering the issues needed? For example, should research seek to find ways to enable the industries in these countries to progressively grow and develop as they undertake their tasks?

Despite its importance, the field of Construction in Developing Countries has largely failed to make progress in the last decade. There have not been many significant new works, or breakthroughs in knowledge. It is pertinent to examine the reasons for this lack of interest and activity might be and what can be done to revive the field.

Many have said that this industry of construction should be the same everywhere in term of principle, safety, economically, resourcefully and should apply universally to all countries. Therefore, this will lead there being no distinctive area of construction within developing countries. Developing countries can be classed as exceptionalism, and the need to build will need extra care and expert knowledge, when this should be considered on all construction projects, within all countries.

Another factor that can be quite difficult to understand would be why are developing countries classed as developing. The notion of a country being classed as ‘developing’ has a great impact on the way the construction industry takes on projects, and the way a firm will take extra precautions  by estimating more for the project projection which takes into consideration risks and contingency flow, which can therefore undermines these countries.

One could argue that construction is an industry which is the same everywhere and the same principles should apply universally. Thus, there is no need for a distinct area of construction in developing countries. “Why should we contaminate pure knowledge with consideration of ‘special circumstances’?”. Others would claim “developing country exceptionalism” and the need to build new knowledge to suit the special circumstances of these countries (see Ofori, 2012b). CIB W107 has published a research roadmap on the subject (Rwelamila and Ogunlana, 2015), indicating that there are relevant topics to study.