A fellow at the Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) has charged Ghanaian Surveyors to adapt new technologies for surveying for fast and accurate results.
Speaking at the 2020 surveyors week pre-press conference in Accra on the theme: surveying & emerging technologies for national development, a Fellow who doubles as the President of the Association, Surveyor Maame Ama Edumadze-Acquah noted that, surveyors in developing countries like Ghana are increasingly finding it difficult to cope with the rate at which technologies and systems keep changing.
She attributes this to the rate at which technology is moving with new machines and equipment being introduced daily for easy work, and “they only mainly purchase and do not in most cases have the competence to maintain the equipment and the systems”.
According to her, “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.”
“The rapid change and modernisation introduced into surveying techniques would not be meaningful if they are not supported by an equally up-to-date dynamic workforce.”
“The technological advancement therefore, requires the training of personnel at home and abroad in the use and management of these modern tools.”
Speaking on theme, Madam Ama stated: “Surveyors and Surveying are an indispensable building block in the effort of national development and reconstruction cannot be their emphasis because all development take place on land, and land is a key economic factor that Surveyors are distinct 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 overemphasised,” she said.
Background
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 the categories of Surveyors 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 two thousand, working across the length and breadth of Ghana with a few in other countries.
Among the objectives of the Institution is to secure the progress and facilitate the acquisition of that knowledge which constitutes the profession of a Surveyor, maintain and promote the usefulness of the profession for the public good. In addition, the Institution also works to further national and international recognition and understanding of the profession and its various disciplines.
The GhIS holds annual seminars to build capacity of surveyors to increase their delivery in national growth. This year’s conference will be the 15th Surveyors Week and 51st Annual General Meeting.
Story filed by Edzorna Francis Mensah.
