Dominica Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) Project

       Responding to the recent formulation and particularly the upcoming implementation by the Government of Dominica of varied housing construction financing programs, articulated around multiple financing mechanisms that are accessible and attractive to both low and middle-income households, the organization of American States’ Department of Sustainable Development (OAS/DSD) has undertaken to propose the establishment in Dominica of a Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) Program. The program’s main objective being to facilitating the integration of multi-hazards resilient techniques and the implementation of building codes and regulations along with corresponding enforcement mechanisms in the country’s housing sector and construction practices.

            The construction Quality Assurance program has been initiated by the OAS in the Eastern Caribbean region as a direct response to the extremely high level of damages registered in Grenada after hurricane Ivan in September 2004. Such level of damages to the housing sector after Ivan supported  the assumption of possible significant failures in that country’s construction practices, especially when considering that the only schools that did sustain Ivan without damages where the ones retrofitted by the OAS through an earlier initiative. As the construction quality assessment studies results emerged, it had become clear that the situation prevailing in pre-Ivan Grenada, characterized by significant shortcomings in the structural resiliency of homes and the built environment, and the non application and enforcement of building codes and regulations, were part of the reasons explaining that level of destruction (as Grenada has an effective Building codes and regulations), and hence could have been reduced ex ante  through the use of multi-hazards design and techniques.

            Over a 6 months period, the OAS has undertaken a detailed assessment of the construction sector in Dominica, with focus on the housing sector. The CQA studies conducted revealed significant deficiencies in construction design review process leading to construction permits approval, and  lack of technical abilities of the building professionals to integrate efficiently multi-hazards resiliency in their construction practices.  

This project aims at integrating the fundamental recommendations for successfully implementing an effective Quality Assurance System (or CQA) in Dominica in:

• Presenting all the actors and stakeholders making that sector in Dominica, along with their respective role in its functioning, as revealed through the findings;

• Describing and tackling the shortcomings associated with the existing construction quality system in Dominica;

• Presenting the fundamental requirements of an effective construction quality assurance system, as tailored to the case of Dominica; and finally

• Setting in motion a CQA strategy for addressing the shortcomings on the existing housing construction system in Dominica, as applied for each entity involved in the housing sector.   

Project’s Documents

Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) Project

1. Project Description

2. Training and Capacity Building Activities