First Africa Construction Development Conference to be held in Ghana
More than two hundred participants from Ghana and other African countries are expected in Accra for the maiden Africa Construction Development Conference.
The conference slated for Thursday and Friday, November 8 and 9, 2012, is to create a platform for constructors, built environment professionals and stakeholders in the Construction Industry on the continent to deliberate on how to develop the industry.
The two-day conference is a prelude to the second edition of the National Contractors Excellence Awards slated for Saturday November 10.
About 20 speakers and discussants from Egypt, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Ghana will address participants on myriad of issues bordering on the growth and development of the construction industry, with the objective of creating construction giants on the continent of Africa.
The conference and the Excellence Award are organized by the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG) in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).
Speaking ahead of the events, the President of ABCECG Martins Nnuro said the indigenous African construction firm was lagging behind its counterparts on other continents and efforts must be made to reverse the situation.
He said during the conference the contractors would have the opportunity to listen to experts views on how to the change the fortunes of the industry.
Mr. Nnuro was hopeful that rich ideas would be shared during the conference, so that indigenous contractors could learn best practices in order to grow and be able to compete effectively.
Mr Rockson Dogbegah, Chairman of the Technical Committee of ABCECG, who also doubles as Chairman of CIOB Ghana Centre, said it was about time, African construction firms shared ideas and considered possible areas of partnership and other forms of collaboration.
He explained that the conference was therefore apt for firms on the continent to build synergies and began working towards joint project as well as cross border projects.
Mr. Dogbegah said Ghanaian contractors would benefit immensely from the conference and therefore urged them to register and participate. “For lack of knowledge my people perish, we don’t want to perish, so we are assembling the best minds to inform us about the best way to also build our capacity and become construction giants for absolutely no charge” he indicated.
Mr. Dogbegah said ABCECG was determined to lead the change in the construction industry, adding that the conference was one of the methods being employed.
He emphasized that the conference was on construction development and therefore opened to all contractors as well as built environment professionals such as engineers, surveyors and architects.
ABCECG has earmarked a number of events to celebrate this year’s Excellence Awards. It began with a football gala played among five different contractors associations last week Friday. The awards itself is slated for Saturday, November 10, however there will be a tree planting exercise and tour to the Akosombo Dam before the awards night.
Source: GNA