Stricter rules set out for contractors

ANKARA

Turkey’s Environment and Urbanization Ministry has set out a series of new rules and criteria for contractors to make sure that buildings to be constructed are safe and do not put lives at risk, daily Milliyet reported.

The ministry detailed those rules and criteria in a report submitted to parliament in October. According to the proposed system, contractors’ qualifications will be assessed based on their financial situations and technical and professional capabilities.

Contractors will be classified in 15 different groups depending on their qualifications and capabilities, up from the previous nine classification groups.

The new system proposes that contractors, who newly entered the business — classified in group H — will be allowed to carry out projects worth up to 2.9 million Turkish Liras (around $341,000) and erect a building maximum seven stories high. As a contractor undertakes more projects and gains experience, they will move up on the classification ladder. The most experienced contractors will be allowed to undertake a project worth 143 million liras. The new system aims to prevent inexperienced contractors from taking on projects, which may create risks.

Between 2012 and 2019 some 350,000 constructors were registered by the authorities and no qualifications were required for them to undertake projects. After the qualification system was set up, some 60,000 contractors were registered until September this year and 45,000 of those contractors were in the group H.

The recent earthquake in the western province of İzmir, which killed at least 114 people, triggered a debate on how safe the buildings are in Turkey and whether contractors are following the rules and if their works are properly inspected.

Seven suspects involved in the construction of buildings that collapsed during the İzmir earthquake were arrested last week.

Detention warrants had been issued for 11 suspects, including contractors and engineers, who were allegedly complicit in faulty construction of buildings that crumbled during the magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Bayraklı district of İzmir province on Oct. 30.