The Construction Industry
From the Yemen Times:
Having averaged an annual 6.9 percent growth rate during 2000-2005 – significantly higher than the average 4.3 percent growth rate – the construction industry emerges as a lively driver of non-oil based economic growth, with a potential annual growth reaching 14 percent.
After agriculture and manufacturing-based industries, the construction industry is Yemen’s third largest employer, employing more than 7 percent of the workforce, with a steady growth rate exceeding almost all other industries in Yemen. However, the critical issue is that despite such growth, there’s been almost no development in the construction process itself.
Despite immense development in the science and knowledge of the construction process itself, construction in Yemen remains expensive, inefficient and utilizing outdated technology, thus making the industry extremely vulnerable, both in the medium and long terms.
A recent academic paper by scholars Basel Sultan and Stephan Kajewski from Australia’s Queensland University indicated that obstacles to construction industry development range from initial feasibility and design study to cost management and the construction process itself. This indicates that considerable capital and time is wasted in the construction process, thereby resulting in a shortened lifespan of poorly designed buildings requiring redevelopment or demolition, especially if the materials used were questionable and the construction practices proved substandard, thereby resulting in a magnitude of problems throughout the building’s lifespan.
The article also anticipates that competition from multinational contractors will benefit the industry.
