19 December
ASpart of legislative efforts in the construction sector, the parliamentary committee on transport, communications, and construction is discussing several bills, including the real estate services bill and housing apartments bill, and is also planning to meet with the governmental departments in this regard.
At present, the Ministry of Construction and the legislative committee are working together to enact Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in the construction sector.SOPs would play an important role in removing current obstacles in the construction sector in regions and states, aid the tender process, and ensure timely completion of construction projects funded by the State-budget which meet the set target.
For this, SOPs must be adaptable to the on-ground situation and must benefit all stake-holders — the contractors, the State, and the people.
Meanwhile, the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) system, which is also connected with the construction sector, is facing challenges that need to be tackled.
When we look at the contracts signed between the Ministry of Construction and private construction companies under the BOT system to build roads, we find that weaknesses and problems in past contracts have not benefited the people or the contractors.
This reflects the need for binding BOT contracts, which offer a win-win sit-uation to businesses, the State, and the people. To achieve this, the legislative committee has suggested possible solutions to the Ministry of Construction to ensure that BOT contracts do not burden the people and the investors. We have realized that this cannot be achieved within a day, but we hope a pragmatic approach to problems related with BOT projects would be more successful than the earlier idealistic one.
We have made achievements in the legislative sphere. For example, in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the Myanmar Engineering Council Law submitted by the Ministry of Construction was amended. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw approved the Bridges Law in June this year. The Ministry of Construction and the legislative committee are currently working on drafting the Building Control Act and plan to enact it within six months.
While we work on legislation, we also need to look at ten-der directives as there is much to be amended when it comes to them. Once tender directives become accurate, precise, and clear, and the Building Control Act and the Procurement Law, which are being drafted, come into effect, we would feel confident that we have laid a strong foundation for the con-struction sector. We believe this can be achieved within a short time frame.
GLNM
