Quantity surveying in Kenya

Salam and dear all, An interesting development is taking place in Kenya whereby Quantity Surveyors there are calling for a separate Act to govern the profession. For your information in Malaysia the quantity surveying profession is governed by Act 487 Quantity Surveyors Act 1967 (revised 28th February 2002). Read the full article published in Kenya's Daily Nation, 30th October 2009 at http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/-/1006/678538/-/if6dm9z/-/ "Quantity surveyors seek autonomy By KABURU MUGAMBIPosted Wednesday, October 28 2009 at 16:37 Quantity surveyors have backed a proposed Bill that seeks to amend the current Act by creating a new law to separately register and regulate them. Currently, the profession is regulated solely from a building construction perspective and thus combined with architecture under the Architects and Quantity Surveyors Act. Members say the profession’s growth and contribution to sectors outside building construction locally has been largely hampered. The principle aim of the proposed Quantity Surveyors Bill 2009, is to provide for a separate registration of quantity surveyors as is the practice in other Commonwealth countries such as Britain, India and South Africa. Quantity surveyors say that since architects are building designers, putting quantity surveyors and architects under the same cap and regulatory board has created a misconstrued conception that quantity surveying is limited to buildings. “On the contrary, quantity surveying is a strong land developments economics curriculum which renders professional services which span across buildings, allied services and civil works, roads network and all infrastructure development,” Special Programmes ministry assistant minister Mohamud Ali — himself a quantity surveyor — said on Wednesday. He said that the profession had grown in terms of complexity and in tandem with global trends expanding beyond the traditional building sector to embrace new areas of infrastructural development. These, he said, include telecommunication services, engineering, civil works and finance. “The quantity surveying fraternity feels that it has come of age both in terms of the number of practitioners and the growth of the profession to deserve a dedicated registration board and an Act of Parliament that will regulate and address the interests of quantity surveying,” said Mr Ali when he opened an Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya seminar on the Bill in Nairobi. He said that combining architects and quantity surveyors under the same chapter and board of registration contributes to creating under-employment “within the quantity surveying fraternity to the tune of 40 to 60 per cent” due to the misconception that quantity surveying is about building construction only. Evident role Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya chairman Silvester Mutharia said the role played by the profession was evident in developed economies where quantity surveyors are engaged in road construction, mining, ship building, electrical generation and transmission, water and sanitation. “In most of those countries too, this profession is regulated by a profession-specific legislation,” he said".