Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Introduction to Inaugural Conference & Call For Papers

The focus of this Inaugural Conference is to explore ways
in which Muslim countries can improve their socio-economic infrastructures
through development of their construction sectors.

The Procurement and Project Delivery System Research Unit and the Department of Quantity Surveying, Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design at the International Islamic University Malaysia, is undertaking a comprehensive study of the state of the construction industries across the economies of the Muslim World.

The approach adopted is to address current economic woes and poverty
prevailing in most Muslim countries through the provision of socio-economic infrastructure to induce,spur and sustain economic growth and development.

Most of the Muslim economies lack construction capacity and
capability to deliver such badly needed infrastructure.

The Islamic world, broadly divided into North and Sub-Saharan
Africa, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the Gulf
states, and Central Asia, varies in terms of their levels of socioeconomic
development, poverty incidence, income distribution
patterns, literacy, employment levels as well as degrees of backwardness.

Wide disparities exist in the Islamic world with some
parts enjoying substantially high levels of living, while more
than half of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member
countries are classified as being amongst the least developed
nations of the world, and are trapped in extreme poverty.

In some parts of the Muslim World, the capacity and capability
is such, that the excesses could be better managed and used to
help those deprived economies. Thus, understanding the state,
capacity, capability and workings of the construction sectors of
these countries, is considered the right first step towards
achieving the Research Unit and IIUM’s endeavours to contribute
to a better Muslim World and elsewhere.

This Conference will view construction as the catalyst to solve
these problems. The cooperation of the richer Muslim states,
and other more developed nations, in lending agencies, practitioners
(especially contractors) etc. may be part of the solution.

Academics and those in practice need to help to find ways to make
improvements.

Papers are welcomed from the academic community and practitioners Policy makers, NGOs, Muslim and non-Muslim in all parts of the globe. However the focus of this conference is on the state of construction in the following countries;

Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Guinea,
Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger,
Pakistan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal,
Sudan, Somalia, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen,
Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Syrian,
United Arab Emirates, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Iraq, Maldives,
Djibouti, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Nigeria,
Azerbaijan, Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Mozambique, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Suriname, Togo, Guyana and Côte d'Ivoire.

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