Dispute adjudication board as an ADR method in the construction industry of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Unresolved disputes can lead to project delay, increased tension and can damage long term business relationship. As a result, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods were evolved during the passage of time to resolve construction disputes. Dispute Avoidance Procedures, which include Dispute Review Boards (DRB) and Dispute Adjudication Boards (DAB) are used in the construction industry since those methods are encourage parties to resolve their disputes at site level. The DAB first started to use in Sri Lanka after the FIDIC (1999) red book was introduced to use and due to the insistence of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank as funding agencies for the mega development projects. Although many research papers of foreign countries stated that their success with the DAB, Sri Lankan construction industry mostly practiced adjudication in ad-hoc manner. This research was carried out to provide suggestions to overcome the barriers to implement the full term DAB method in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to find out the genuine reasons behind the reluctance of stakeholders in Sri Lankan construction industry towards ADR methods and why stakeholders even do not use adjudication which has been recognized as an effective and efficient ADR method, elsewhere in the world. Questionnaire survey was carried out among contractor and consultant organisations and semi structured interviews were carried to gather descriptive answers from them. The research revealed the barriers to implement the full term DAB in Sri Lanka and provides suggestions to overcome those barriers. The research would also be conducted based on the provisions in Conditions of Contract for Construction for Building and Engineering Works Designed by the Employer (FIDIC 1999) first edition and Standard Bidding Document Procurement of Works Major Contracts (ICTAD/SBD/02) second edition. A pivotal conclusion of this research is that the stakeholders in the construction industry prefer “adjudication” as an effective ADR method.