Annual confab of Quantity Surveyors held

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors, conducted its annual conference recently in Brunei, where its 13 member countries, including Australia, Japan and Sri Lanka participated.

The conference was fruitful for the development of the field of Quantity Surveyors. The professional qualifications of the local quantity surveyors have been well recognized globally and highly in demand. We signed agreements and also renewed the reciprocal agreement with Australia for a further five years, for the benefit of the professionals, Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka president Hemantha Aponso told the Daily News Business.

With a view to broaden its international outlook, we will be working with Canada on an agreement and we already have an agreement with New Zealand.The conference is focused on a new term for surveyors as Cost Engineers and Estimators to be used in future, given a prominent role in the field of work, he said.

The Institute of Quantity Surveyors Sri Lanka (IQSSL), had been incorporated in 2007, where a new council had been appointed. Presently, the Institute had participated at the recent PAQS Conference with over 300 other foreign delegates in attendance. The IQSSL is the regulatory body for Quantity Surveyors and professionals in Sri Lanka, where it has a membership of over 2,000.

We consider our professionals to be the highest paid in the construction Industry, while they play an important role in brining in foreign exchange to the country.

We are recognized internationally,while many are working abroad. With the construction boom experienced by the country, we believe that the services of the Quantity Surveyors too become the key in the way forward, he said.

Moratuwas University started a Degree course in Quantity Surveying in 1985,where the qualifications are recognized by PAQS. ( SJ )