SVGCIC hosts breakfast meeting with decision makers in Construction Sector

On Tuesday, March 17th, 2009, The St.Vincent and the Grenadines Chamber of Industry and Commerce held a breakfast meeting of key decision makers in the Construction Sector, under the theme: “Ensuring continued growth of the Construction sector: Success and Challenges.”{{more}}

The session took the form of an open dialogue and focused on key challenges and constraints faced by the industry. Participants included Managers, Directors and other senior representatives from within the construction sector. Presentations were made by Morris Slater, Manager of the Housing and Land Development Corporation, and Glenford Stewart, Manager of Stewart Engineering.

Slater spoke of the importance of networking and the need to generate creative ideas to tackle the issues faced by the construction sector. In his presentation, Slater highlighted the need to avoid wastage and for persons to share information based on specialized expertise. He further called for the adoption of the building code in the construction sector.

Stewart highlighted his organization’s experiences in meeting the demands of the sector and the best practices that have been included in his organization’s approach. He noted the need to maintain contact with persons in and out of St.Vincent and attributed his success to 1) offering advice to clients 2) budgeting with contingencies 3) teamwork between players such as masons, electricians, carpenter etc; 4) the establishment of project boundaries from the onset of projects and 5) clear and open communication with clients. Mr. Stewart emphasized that one must be willing to share information, work and revenue generated.

Following the presentations, a moderated discussion ensued, from which several recommendations were made. The Chamber of Commerce hopes to lead on the recommendations brought forward with the assistance of Government and other stakeholders.