Construction audits start to bear fruit - Swartz

Presenting the ministry's budget proposals to Parliament recently, the minister said in the past, he has highlighted many of the challenges besieging the construction sector that are now in the public domain due to extensive media coverage. 

"The quality audit teams put in place to inspect projects during construction and before takeover of facilities by government have resulted in drastic reductions in the number of call-outs compared to the past when projects were accepted without any audits," he said. He stated that from December 2010 to date, the audit teams recorded 62,717 minor and major defects from 118 facility inspections. This represents an average of 531.5 defects per inspection, all of which would have been overlooked without the audits. The defects would have been eventually discovered after takeover of these projects, as both contractors and consultants would have declared them practically complete and ready for handover to government.