Sri Lankan Quantity Surveyors go places in Qatar

by Dr. Chandana Jayalath

Quantity surveying has evolved as a discipline combining with construction technology, economics, law, mathematics and management. Quantity surveyors are specialists involved in early cost advisory functions to final accounting and contract close-out aiming at dispute-free project delivery.

Sri Lanka has become a country famous for producing some of the world’s best quantity surveyors thorough in measurement, valuation, auditing, contract administration and claim handling. This service profile unique to Sri Lankan quantity surveyors has been frequently heard and spoken of among investors and developers in the Gulf region for some time.

The first Sri Lankan quantity surveyor to land in this part of the world has been recorded in Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. However, his name is not known.

Those who had some construction background in the Public Works Department, River Valleys Development Board, Buildings Department and at a later stage, the Mahaweli Development program had the opportunity to move out of Sri Lanka and get involved in basic technical functions such as physical measurement and valuation of work done, billing and payments.

They served British contracting firms such as Taylor Woodrow and Balfour Beatty. Today, there are hundreds of Sri Lankan quantity surveyors working in organizations within a wide range of responsibilities at site and corporate level.

Unlike those days, entering the international arena is competitive and volatile, due to a host of reasons such as widespread supply chain, fragmentation of responsibilities and the influx of other nationalities. Clients too are no longer lay clients and are desperate to become the best. What matters, therefore, is timely compliance, accurate analysis and correct judgment, which is possible only with proper education, training and experience. For some, the Middle East is a training hub and others a floodgate for competence.

SLQS

In Doha, the capital of the State of Qatar, Sri Lankan quantity surveyors have teamed up as Sri Lanka Quantity Surveyors (SLQS) Qatar. There are similar societies in neighbouring cities such as Dubai, Muscat and Bahrain. SLQS Qatar, set up in 2003, is now affiliated to the Sri Lankan Embassy, as a professional body.

Its primary purpose is to serve the membership in terms of knowledge sharing, welfare, job hunting and recreation. SLQS Qatar is keen on earning a good reputation among the investors, employers, developers, contractors, consultants and local Qatari high-level decision makers related to the construction sector. Its membership exceeds over 800.

SLQS Qatar members’ contribution encompasses a wide variety of activities such as helping those affected by the tsunami, Api Wenuwen Api, blood donation campaigns, donation of medical appliances to the cancer hospital, donation of books to Sri Lankan universities, organizing social events and guest lectures to fulfill its societal accountability in the spirit of volunteerism.

SLQS Qatar’s annual get-together will be held on December 4 at Radison Blu Hotel in Doha. Sri Lanka’s ambassador, Prof. Dr. W.M. Karunadasa will be the Chief Guest and Prof. Chanaka Jayawardhena from Hull University Business School, the guest speaker.