The con­struc­tion sec­tor is once again in need of a res­cue plan.

Tra­di­tion­al­ly, this has hap­pened when­ev­er the na­tion­al econ­o­my?moved?from?boom to bust.?It is worse this time around be­cause?of the?pre­vi­ous ad­min­is­tra­tion's?pol­i­cy of mar­gin­al­is­ing lo­cal?con­trac­tors?and con­sul­tants in favour of?for­eign­ers.?

The sec­tor is owed?bil­lions of?dol­lars by the Gov­ern­ment and has?no cush­ion?to ride out the storm.?Over the last two years, em­ploy­ment in the sec­tor?has dropped from 112,000?to 70,000?per­sons and is still falling. And, with the?Trea­sury al­leged­ly near emp­ty, there is lit­tle hope?of a re­al turn­around in the near fu­ture.

For­tu­nate­ly, the Peo­ple's Part­ner­ship Gov­ern­ment ap­pears to recog­nise the need for a res­cue plan?and I would like to see any?such plan?in­clude the fol­low­ing:?

�2 Pay­ment of con­trac­tors and sup­pli­ers prompt­ly for work prop­er­ly ex­e­cut­ed;

�2 In­tro­duc­tion of the promised leg­is­la­tion on Pub­lic Sec­tor Pro­cure­ment Re­form;

�2 Adop­tion of the rec­om­men­da­tions of the Uff Com­mis­sion of En­quiry;

�2 Pref­er­ence for lo­cal over for­eign con­trac­tors, con­sul­tants, sup­pli­ers and man­u­fac­tur­ers;

�2 Reg­is­ter­ing of con­trac­tors, sub-con­trac­tors and con­sul­tants with reg­u­lar up­dates;

�2 Re­quir­ing lo­cal reg­is­tra­tion of for­eign con­trac­tors and con­sul­tants to work in T&T;

�2 Stan­dar­d­is­ing of con­struc­tion con­tracts and en­sur­ing that risks are eq­ui­tably shared by clients and con­trac­tors;

�2 In­tro­duc­tion of a "lien law" to pro­tect lo­cal from for­eign con­trac­tors and sub-con­trac­tors from main con­trac­tors;

�2 Im­prove­ment in project de­sign de­vel­op­ment through stake­hold­ers con­sul­ta­tion and the use?of ap­pro­pri­ate project im­ple­men­ta­tion strate­gies to strength­en cost, time and qual­i­ty con­trol;

�2 Re-in­tro­duc­tion of a schol­ar­ship pro­gramme for pro­fes­sion­al train­ing;

�2 Re-in­tro­duc­tion of ap­pren­tice­ship train­ing schemes for crafts­men;

�2 Pro­vi­sion of tax in­cen­tives for re­tool­ing and train­ing;

�2 Pub­li­ca­tion of de­vel­op­ment plans that al­low the sec­tor to plan for peaks and troughs;

�2 In­tro­duc­tion of mod­ern de­sign build­ing codes and mech­a­nisms for en­force­ment;

�2 Strength­en­ing and stream­lin­ing the sys­tem of plan­ning ap­proval and com­pli­ance mon­i­tor­ing;?

�2 And, fi­nal­ly, treat­ing the sec­tor as a part­ner in de­vel­op­ment and hav­ing reg­u­lar di­a­logue.

The Gov­ern­ment can­not suc­ceed in re­vi­tal­is­ing the na­tion­al econ­o­my with­out a res­cue plan for the con­struc­tion sec­tor. Time is not on our side and the need for all stake­hold­ers to be­gin a se­ri­ous di­a­logue is ur­gent.?

Vic­tor Hart

Via e-mail