Book on 'transforming construction in Ghana' launched

Over the years, the construction industry has seemingly been given undue liberality, without appropriate thought of its real role and value in the development of Ghana.

Consequently, Ghana’s infrastructure deficiency has continued to worsen hence heightening the need for the establishment of proper regulation and monitoring for the sector. It is against this unacceptable background that the 145-page book titled “TRANSFORMING CONSTRUCTION in GHANA.

An action agenda for enabling world-class construction and infrastructure development for accelerated industrialisation” authored by Dr. Joseph K. Ofori-Kuragu, Professor Bernard K. Baiden and Professor Edward Baduis being hailed as coming at the right time proffering solutions and not just enumerating challenges.

Delivering his address as the special guest at the book launch at the Alisa Hotel, Accra on November 2, 2017, Honourable Kwasi Amoako-Atta, the Minister for Roads and Highways, said the government has stepped up a nationwide monitoring of road contractors to ensure their workload is properly managed.

This will ensure the contractors undertake their projects to quality standards and that the citizens, in turn, get value for money on those road projects. In addition, strict performance systems will be used to evaluate those projects. This is in the light of complaints from Ghanaians about some road contractors doing shoddy jobs while others abandon construction projects altogether.

The Minister said the launch of the book is a clear manifestation of the collaboration needed between academia and the industry, and he promised that the ministry will use the proposals in the book as additional building blocks for the road sector as well value for money.

The 145-page book is authored by Dr. Joseph K. Ofori-Kuragu, Professor Bernard K. Baiden and Professor Edward Badu, all lecturers at the Building Technology Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. It has relevant chapters that deal with the challenges in the Ghanaian construction industry and proposes innovative strategies on how the construction industry can effectively support the new government’s flagship Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme.

Prof. Bernard Baiden, one of the authors, said Ghana’s construction industry is at a crossroads and Ghanaian construction companies must improve their standards. Many of the clients especially multi-nationals now insist on global standards.



Prof. Biden added his voice to the call by many industry players for the establishment of a legally empowered non-partisan body to regulate the activities of construction companies and consultants.This will improve the quality of construction delivery and drive costs down in the long term.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Kwame Ofori-Kuragu a co-author revealed that the book is the outcome of a comprehensive field study particularly regarding what affects the industry.He said the Ghanaian construction industry needs to modernise or risk-perishing.

The book, he said, features a performance scorecard that will score projects. According to the co-author, in the United Kingdom (UK), the regulator of the construction industry releases periodic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to maintain standards but that practice is non-existent in Ghana.He said the book has identified some critical success factors for Ghanaian construction firms.

“We have compared what many in different countries helped not just construction companies but many firms to excel and to perform well. As an aggregation of all the factors we looked at, we’ve come out with what we call critical success factors for Ghanaian construction firms,” Dr. Ofori-Kuragu said.

He proposed that there needs to be a big forum on the construction industry in Ghana where all relevant stakeholders will come together to move the industry forward.

The launch was performed by Charles K. Boakye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Infrastructure Systems. Also in attendance were top management and representatives of Construction and Real Estate companies, members of the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GHIE), Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS), Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG), and stakeholders in the construction industry.