Town Planners Seek Partnership For Building Professionals

The Nigerian Institution of Town Planners (NITP), Rivers State chapter, has made a case for synergy and cooperation of all professionals in the building industry, as a way of strengthening the ties that will move the industry forward.

Speaking in a forum on housing sector and way forward in Port Harcourt recently, the chairman of the institution, Mr Opiribo Ikiriko said that the understanding among professionals in the industry became necessary in view of numerous challenges noticed in the sector.

Some of these challenges he said include the continuous incidents of building collapse, increase in the number of quacks in the industry, non-adherence to building codes, as well as the hi-jacking of duties of some professionals by others.

He blamed some of the woes that were experienced in the building industry on the impatienace of some professionals, who think that they can do the job of others, without giving what is meant for others to them.

According to him “you are a quack in any area where you are not a professional, and when an architect begins to do the work of a quantity surveyor, then he is a quack in that regard.

The NITP chairman therefore solicited for synergy among all professionals in the building industry, so as to move the building industry forward, as well as create the enabling environment for housing development in the state.