Innovative, Cutting-edge Research Crucial to Address Bottlenecks in Construction Sector: Ministry

Addis Ababa: Reinforcing activities on innovative and cutting-edge research outputs to address the bottlenecks in the construction sector is essential, according to Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure.Opening the 7th Annual Road Research Conference held today, Urban and Infrastructure State Minister Wondimu Seta said road sector development has been among the strategic focus areas of the nation.This focus has enabled the country to expand its road network from about 26,500km in 1997 to over 162,000km in 2022.However, the state minister noted that the performance of the industry, including the road sector, remains of major concern.Therefore, he stressed that there is a need to reinforce efforts on productivity, quality, and timely completion of projects as well as customer satisfaction, which are issues of concern in the industry.Wondimu stated that the conference is an opportunity to stimulate discussion among stakeholders about how they could overcome the challenges pertaining to the industry as innovative and cutting-edge research outputs could address the bottlenecks in the construction sector.Ethiopian Roads Administration (ERA) Road Research Center director, Worku Asratie said the Government of Ethiopia has been investing huge resource on the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) over the last three decades.In line with the institutional capacity building of the road sector which was set as one of the three main objectives of the RSDP, the Ethiopian Roads Administration has established a research center with the mission of supporting the sector with research and development.In terms of its contribution, the director emphasized that the center has been engaged in conducting research through both in-house capacity and collaborative approaches as its laboratory has been serving for research, design and construction projects.Ethiopian Roads Administration (ERA) Deputy Director General, Hirut Yohannes affirmed that in the course of implementing the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP) , visible achievements have been reported in term of improving accessibility and mobility in road transport.For her, this has been realized through several projects that contain design, construction, and maintenance.According to the deputy director general, project delivery in the Ethiopian road sector is still a challenge despite improvements.This dictates the importance of providing solutions through research and development as the sector also demands technologies that improve productivity and economic efficiency.The construction industry is the second largest source of employment for Ethiopians, accounting for about 2 million jobs.Source: Ethiopian News Agency