Implementing International Standards Could Have Prevented Mexican Airport Referendum

A referendum in which less than two percent of eligible Mexicans voted has approved the cancellation of the airport project in Mexico City in mid-construction. Critics claimed the project was plagued by cost overruns and corruption.

The $13 billion airport project has technical, economic, social and political dimensions that needed to be carefully balanced right from the concept stage through to the end-of-life of the asset. There have been allegations of improper contract award procedures as close to 50 percent of the contracts that were studied showed that direct contracts were awarded without competitive bidding.

“Standards that yield efficient project selection, project delivery, project control, reduction in operating costs, usable benchmarks and enhance asset performance may have helped avoid this impasse,” suggests Anil Sawhney, Infrastructure Director for RICS.

Allegations of cost overruns is common in large infrastructure projects. A key step in managing costs on a project of this scale is the ability to predict and estimate a budget accurately over the early lifecycle phases of the project.

To yield best results, governments should insist International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) are followed to estimate project costs and manage costs over the life of the project. Following ICMS is the first step in creating a consistent, global, pyramidal hierarchy of construction cost classification that connects high-level global cost benchmarking to granular, local cost measurement.

ICMS was developed by a coalition of 46 professional bodies including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Sociedad Mexicana de Ingeniería Económica, Financiera y de Costos (SMIEFC) to harmonize global cost reporting across markets, regions and sectors. By insisting all stakeholders, including contractors, adopt these transparent standards, the Mexican government can better monitor whether projects proceed according to its plan.

RICS promotes and enforces the highest professional qualifications and standards in the valuation, development and management of land, real estate, construction and infrastructure. Our name promises the consistent delivery of standards - bringing confidence to markets and effecting positive change in the built and natural environments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181112005015/en/