The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has hinted on the need for quantity surveyors as part of the efforts to iron out some of the challenges involved in auditing the construction sector.

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A quantity surveyor is a person who calculates the amount of materials needed for building work, and how much they will cost. Currently, the profession boasts 800 quantity surveyors, out of which only 69 are registered so far. Their number is expected to rise to more than 1000 in 2025.

On Friday, July 14, local quantity surveyors launched their own institute, having worked under the institute of the architects for several years. The move was described as one that will improve the construction industry, especially in terms of accountability.

Speaking at the launch, the Director of Audits at the OAG, Haruna Twaha, talked about how quantity surveyors are important in the audit processes.

"When the contractors present the BOQ (Bill of Quantities), sometimes they duplicate some items. So, because of vocabulary, we the accountants are not able to discover this. However, when we have quantity surveyors, they show us,” he noted.

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Quantity surveyors play crucial roles in construction projects, acting as financial guardians who at times work on the project from the start to the end.

Speaking at the event, Charles Lugira, the Chairman of the Quantity Surveyors’ Institution, said there is need to put in place legal instruments that promote the profession, since the current law governing engineers and architects does not clearly define other professions including that of the quantity surveyors.

"We understand that this situation has been negatively impacting the progress of the field of quantity surveying,” he said.

"We highly appreciate the initiative of the government of Rwanda to seek equitable promotion of different professionals for the benefit of concerned sectors. In order to achieve this, it is clear that the governing laws must conform to the setting of the professionals and thus the laws should be aligned from time to time to enable the industry to effectively respond to the changing environment of the professionals,” he added.