THE EFFECT OF ICT UTILIZATION BY CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

With technical advancements, the Nigerian construction sector has advanced, expanding worldwide and domestically. Any economy's economic activity has been measured by the construction sector. According to Ozumba & Shakantu (2022), the contribution of construction to Gross National Product (GNP) across nations with varying degrees of economic development demonstrates significant increase. This is due to the world's growing population and the need for new infrastructure facilities to fulfill rising demand. A recent assessment of big engineering contractors' investment in information technology reveals an upward trend in the construction industry's usage of data management, web application, and virtual reality (Songer et al. 2022). Information and communication technology has continued to expand fast in many sectors of the construction industry in response to the increased interest in using ICT to future-proof businesses.

According to a recent study conducted by Ozumba & Shakantu (2022), ICT has been actively utilized in the pre-construction phase, in product design, and in production planning and scheduling. This further demonstrates why ICT is indispensable in the building business.

Nigeria began executing her ICT policy in April 2001, after the Federal Executive Council approved the policy and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was established as the implementing authority (Agyeman, 2022). The policy authorizes NITDA to participate into strategic partnerships and joint ventures, as well as to work with the private sector, in order to realize the nation's aim of making Nigeria an IT-compatible country in Africa. Through the use of IT for sustainable development and global competitiveness, Nigeria will become a prominent actor in the information society by 2005.

Other objectives of Nigeria's ICT policy are as follows:

• To ensure that ICT resources are readily available to promote efficient national development;

• To ensure that the country benefits maximally and contributes meaningfully by providing global solutions to the challenges of the Information Age;

• To empower Nigerians to participate in software and ICT development;

• To encourage local production and manufacture of ICT components; and

• To establish an ICT research and development center.

Against the backdrop of the nation's ICT strategy, all sectors of the economy should effectively leverage the ICT potentials to promote national growth and international competitiveness. Considering the significance of ICT to the building sector, it is imperative that this research on the effect of ICT utilization by construction consultants be conducted.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The construction industry has not taken full advantage of the collaborative systems that information sharing and coordination have made available to project participants, nor has it taken full advantage of ICT solutions for digital information exchange and document sharing, as well as e-tendering, which are benefits accruing from the industry's use of ICT (Agyeman, 2022). In light of the industry's limited usage of ICT principles, it may be beneficial to analyze the use of ICT by construction industry consultants in order to improve project communication and performance.

While the majority of these studies were conducted in highly developed European nations and Asian "Tiger" economies, only the South African study by Arif & Karam (2022) reflects an emerging economy in Africa. This study examines the condition of ICT adoption in Nigeria's construction industry, the continent's second-largest economy.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this study is to examine the effect of ICT utilization by construction consultants. Specifically, other objectives of this study are:

i.          To determine the extent ICT is utilized by construction consultants.

ii.        To examine the ICT tools used by construction consultants.

iii.      To examine the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants.

iv.      To examine solutions to the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions will be answered in this study:

i.          To what extent is  ICT utilized by construction consultants?

ii.        What are the ICT tools used by construction consultants?

iii.      What are the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants?

iv.      What are the solutions to the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Despite the fact that the initial fervor around the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in enhancing the competitiveness and productivity of businesses has given way to disappointment, these technologies remain crucial to economic development and competitiveness. The construction business may greatly benefit from the implementation of ICT. Utilizing TIC also provides chances to address coordination issues caused by construction fragmentation.

For instance, the architects can begin by developing sophisticated 3D CAD models that can be seen and shared with the rest of the design team. Working from the same basic model, the engineers may fast construct their individual engineering and detail designs, allowing the quantity surveyors to immediately estimate the project's preliminary costs. This enables for increased performance and productivity among construction consultants. When these CAD capabilities are fully utilized, construction fragmentation may be accomplished at a substantial cost and time savings to the owner (Latham 2022).

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is focused on the effect of ICT utilization by construction consultants. Specifically, this study is focused on determining the extent ICT is utilized by construction consultants, examining the ICT tools used by construction consultants, examining the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants and examining solutions to the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants.

Construction consultants in selected construction companies in Port Harcourt, Rivers State will serve as the respondents of the survey of this study.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study is limited to the effect of ICT utilization by construction consultants. Specifically, this study is limited to determining the extent ICT is utilized by construction consultants, examining the ICT tools used by construction consultants, examining the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants and examining solutions to the challenges of ICT utilization encountered by construction consultants.

Construction consultants in selected construction companies in Port Harcourt, Rivers State will serve as the respondents of the survey of this study, hence further studies needs to be carried out before the findings of this study can be used elsewhere in the world.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

ICT: Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, understand and manipulate information.

Construction: The act of building, and the noun is construction: how something is built, the nature of its structure.

Consultants: A consultant is a professional who provides advice and further purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting is not in itself a profession, but instead a certain type of employment, similar and comparable to staffing, for example.

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