27 Mar 2017

The Quantity Surveyors Registration Council (QSRC) recently held a stakeholder engagement with focus on the requirements necessary to become a certified and practicing quantity surveyor.
At the event, the council chairperson, Mr Gontse Kgosiemang said there was need to hold a stakeholder engagement in the wake of the regulatory bodies that were developing in the country such as the Real Estate Council, Architects Association  and Engineers Registration Board.
“This necessitates the need to up our game and ensure quality assurance of the profession through regulation,” he said.
The council was established following an Act of Parliament of 2013 geared at regulating quantity surveyors to ensure integrity of the profession.
He said its roots date back to the formation of the Institute of Botswana Quantity Surveyors which was a voluntary organisation registered under the registrar of societies in 1996.
“The QSRC is not a regulatory organisation as yet. It is a forum where quantity surveyors share ideas and develop their knowledge,” he said, adding that it was in this forum where they decided they wanted the QSRC and worked on bringing it to life.
He said their efforts have beard fruit for the reason that in 2013 the government published the Quantity Surveyors Registration Act which gave birth to the QSRC. He added that they were tasked with promotion of performance, excellence and professionalism.
“It does not have any legal powers to compel or to regulate and regulation will be our next step,” he said.
Mr Kgosiemang noted that the council shall protect the interests of members of the public in any dealings with quantity surveyors to maintain the integrity of the profession and ensure compliance with the set standards as well as to encourage research and development of the profession.
He said the council shall liase with established bodies such as the Association of Africa Quantity Surveyors which would link it with regional bodies in the continent to foster ties.
He said given the nature of the job of a quantity surveyor which includes amongst other things, procurement in civil works, construction, measurement of quantities, risk analysis, project costing and valuation, dispute resolution and arbitration they have a reputation for being fair and they intend to maintain that.
For her part, the QSRC registrar, Ms Kedibonye Proctor shared the expected code of conduct for quantity surveyors and the registration requirements which she said were divided into two categories: registered quantity surveyors and candidate quantity surveyors.
The QSRC registrar noted that they must possess relevant qualifications to be registered, and that they would go through an assessment of professional competency. She added that they should have performed under a registered quantity surveyor to be registered for all categories.
She said to be admitted as a quantity surveyor, one should have worked for two years or 10 years experience doing quantity surveying work which was viewed as satisfactory by the council than one may be registered.
Furthermore, she said if one holds membership from other organisations, the council would scrutinise and check and admit based on merit
For candidate quantity surveyors (CQS) who were graduates, the requirements were that they should have passed an examination as prescribed by the council, and that they should have worked for two years under a registered quantity surveyor.
For expatriates, they were required to furnish the council with all the necessary documents, and were registered under the temporary registration category on condition that they work under a local quantity surveyor. ENDS