Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts, 36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963. Tel: 3757794/5
____________________________________________________________
SPEECH BY MR KOO TSAI KEE, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT, AT THE OPENING OF THE FIRST CONGRESS OF THE PACIFIC
ASSOCIATION OF QUANTITY SURVEYORS
ON TUES, 13 MAY 97 AT 9.30 AM AT THE WESTIN STAMFORD
Mr Dennis Lenard
Chairman, Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors
Mr Edward Tang
President, Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers
and Chairman of the Organising Committee
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
I welcome you to the First Congress of the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors, and a warm welcome to our overseas delegates to Singapore. Singapore is proud to host this important gathering of some 100 quantity surveyors and valuers from about 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
This Congress is timely as the dynamic economic growth of the region presents tremendous opportunities for the construction industry. A reflection of this is the increasing value of overseas construction contracts. In 1995, our contractors secured $1.6b worth of contracts compared with $1.2b in 1994. This was a 35 per cent increase. The prospects for Quantity Surveyors are indeed promising, as both developing and developed countries in the region are investing heavily in infrastructural development.
Quantity surveyors play a significant role in the entire building process, from pre-tender to the post-construction stage. Your contribution stands out distinctively in two important areas - cost management and contract management.
Your role in cost management has increased tremendously over the years, particularly at the design stage. Previously, QS mainly played a supporting role in providing estimating services after the design has been firmed up. But with projects getting increasingly bigger in size, more complex and costlier, clients are demanding infrastructural projects to be cost-effective. This is a very important factor in enhancing a country's competitiveness, hence the critical role of the QS in ensuring effective cost management for the clients.
In major projects, we find that the QS has taken on the role of a Cost Consultant who offers a more comprehensive range of costing services. These range from cost-planning at the initial stage of design brief to cost control during the construction stage.
In Singapore, the function of the QS in cost management takes on greater importance in our public housing programme. Cost-effectiveness is the key to success in our public housing programme as it enables us to make public housing affordable for Singaporeans. The QS helps to stabilise construction costs by ensuring the continuous supply of basic construction materials at reasonable market prices.
The QS also plays an important part in supporting Singapore's construction industry through cost management services. Our Public Works Department, or PWD for short, produces a comprehensive cost database. The public can access this database which contains up-to-date information on unit construction cost, labour and material costs, and cost analyses of completed projects. It also compiles cost indices that capture the trends of construction cost and these are updated regularly.
The second distinctive role of the QS is in the area of contract management. As the QS is well-versed in contractual matters, he contributes significantly in the many aspects of contract management. These include procurement, contractual arrangement and even the resolving of contractual disputes. We see an increasing number of QSs developing and offering services in alternative contracting methods for major and complex projects where the conventional method may be inadequate.
In the area of procurement, the PWD reviews the policies and procedures relating to the procurement of public construction works. This brings about greater efficiency and effectiveness in the building process. PWD has pioneered the concept of Design-and-Build for building projects as an alternative to the traditional design-bid-build method of procurement. This innovative method of procurement integrates the function of design and building without compromising architectural aesthetics. The result - cost-savings.
The sound contract management system developed by the QS has contributed significantly to the success of our public housing programme. The QS has drawn up transparent and efficient procurement methods, good contract practices and balanced conditions of contract.
Ladies and gentlemen, given the multi-faceted roles of the QS, a major challenge confronting you is how to enhance your efficiency and effectiveness. The answer lies in technology.
Singapore is exploiting Information Technology to raise the quality of QS services. PWD has embarked on and sponsored a project called the Automated Quantities Take-off. The project aims to generate the bills of quantities directly from computer-aided drawings without the need for measurement. If successful, this would revolutionise an important aspect of the work of the QS. Ultimately, electronic procurement would also be made possible for construction projects.
We have also developed advanced QS software and cost databases which enable us to formulate accurate cost-plans. The overall effect of IT application is higher productivity and greater efficiency in the provision of QS services. I am pleased to note that there will be a few papers presented on the role of IT at this Congress.
With the large gathering of QS professionals here, I hope you will take this great opportunity to learn from the experiences of one another and to exchange new ideas.
On this note, let me wish all of you an enriching experience and a pleasant stay in Singapore.