Building compliance can reduce substandard material supplies

GREATER compliance to building standards will halt the increase of substandard materials being supplied and used in construction, says Markham Culverts general manager Ron Lane.
He was speaking at a construction industry breakfast in Port Moresby last week.
“The issue of materials in the construction sector is being driven by the lack of compliance,” Lane said.
“People are not insisting on standards being followed. Standards are not being fully enforced resulting in a lot of products entering of a substandard quality.
“The steel products may look proper but the coating, what type of steel and other factors determine if it meets standard or not.
“The decline in quality products used in the construction sector has been constant over the years. The only way to stop this is by looking at ways to enforcing compliance to standards. The Works Department has standards and their engineers ask for a compliance certificate for materials used in projects. The mining industry is even more demanding in compliance as they know the dangers around poor infrastructure, in rural areas.”
He said the use of substandard materials would have an effect on the system.
Lane said the prospects for the construction industry depend on the extractive sector projects.