Engineers employed with municipalities and state or government organizations should not be members of relevant engineering and construction associations, a member of the Tehran Engineering Association Geotechnical Committee said Tuesday.
“Members of this group moonlighting for municipalities or other executive organizations will apparently raise doubts about the integrity and performance of the engineering association,” Alireza Alemzadeh was quoted by IRNA as saying.
He underlined that upholding engineering rules and regulations as well as technical and oversight aspects of the job are of great significance and should be upheld in its entirety.
“Engineers who have two jobs could undermine the integrity of the entire process. As such, when executing and monitoring the (construction) work is the function of one person it may well compromise the quality of the constructions.”
He called for amendments to the construction and engineering laws and said, “These laws were passed two decades ago and are no more effective in moving the key sector forward. It needs revision to be able to meet the demands and requirements of advanced constructions.”
Revisions and modifications should be made based on experts’ views and in tandem with private sector needs, he said. “The changes and reordering of regulations must oblige the supervising engineer to be present during all stages of construction work, directly monitor the activities and take proper measures in times of need or if there are unexpected incidents.”
Codes of Conduct
The Minister of Road and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi recently sent an open letter to civil engineers that contained a draft of “codes of professional conduct and ethics in engineering”.
His recommendations will soon go into effect in the form of official guidelines and engineers found in violation or breach will be penalized, the local media reported on Tuesday.
The proposal requires engineers to abide by specific principles and work ethics, namely an obligation to notify their employer if they are also working for another company or organization that could possibly compromise the quality of their work.
Given the importance of the construction sector and real estate in the national economy and key role of municipalities in granting permits and their oversight duties, the latter has come under close scrutiny in recent years.
Unconfirmed reports have it that the engineers and inspectors working for municipalities have been involved in sleaze leading to the construction of shoddy buildings mainly multi-million-dollar public construction works. Use of poor quality construction material has also been singled out in many cases, including works related to highways, bridges and tunnels.
The government has been trying to improve the integrity and image of the relevant construction organizations and ensure the people that housing units and other works are under the close eye of the supervisory organizations.
