Surveyors in Ghana urged to adapt to new technologies

The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) has urged Surveyors in Ghana to adopt new technologies that would make their work more simple and with good results.

The call was made by the President of the Association, Surveyor Maame Ama Edumadze-Acquah when she addressed the media to as part of this year’s Surveyor’s week celebrations in Accra.

It was on the theme: surveying & emerging technologies for national development.

According to her, Surveyors in developing countries like Ghana are increasingly finding it difficult to cope with the rate at which technologies and systems keep changing.

“There is the need to put in efforts to reverse the situation so that employment opportunities could be created for our people and time of equipment availability increased,” she noted.

According to her, the rapid changes and modernisation phase of surveying techniques would not be meaningful if they are not supported by an equally up-to-date dynamic workforce, that places emphasis on facts.

“The technological advancement therefore, requires the training of personnel at home and abroad in the use and management of these modern tools”.

She said Surveyors and Surveying are an indispensable building block in the effort of national development, hence reconstruction cannot be their emphasis because all developments take place on land, and land is a key economic factor that Surveyors are distinct due to its management and administration.

“Our theme therefore seeks to put the Surveyor and his/her trade – Surveying as a subject or the science of Surveying and its relevance to national development at the heart of this year’s Surveyors Week.

“The development of every nation with respect to land acquisition, effective planning, land administration, construction and infrastructural development is hinged on the availability of up to date land information and its management.

“Once infrastructural development is mentioned, the Surveyor, and in other words surveying comes to mind. Right from the beginning of any infrastructural development through the construction stage to the end of the project activities, the role of Surveyors cannot be overemphasized,” she said.

The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) is the only recognised professional body which regulates the arts and sciences of Surveying, as well as, the training and certification of all categories of Surveying in Ghana.

The Institution comprises of three surveying disciplines, namely the Land Surveying Division, the Quantity Surveying Division and the Valuation & Estate Surveying Division with a combined membership of over 2000, working across the length and breadth of Ghana and some other countries.

The Institution also aims to secure the progress and facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, maintain and promote the usefulness of the profession for the public good.

This it does through annual seminars for the capacity building of surveyors to increase their delivery in national growth.

Source: ghananewsonline.com.gh