Special features and experiences of the full- term dispute adjudication board as an alternative dispute resolution method in the construction industry of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Disputes in the construction industry are inevitable due to complexity and the multi-party involvement of the projects. With the increasing of the construction projects, the construction industry of Sri Lanka needs a fast and cost effective dispute resolution method. Drawbacks of litigation have opened up the ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ (ADR) methods to settle construction disputes. Dispute Avoidance Procedures which include Dispute Review Board (DRB) and Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB) are widely used in the dispute resolution of the construction industry since those procedures are encourage to resolve construction disputes at site level. After 30 years civil war in the north and east provinces in Sri Lanka, the foreign donor agencies have funded for the economic infrastructure development projects. DAB is used in Sri Lanka under the FIDIC 1999 (Red Book) specially for the foreign funded development projects. This research was carried out to provide suggestions to overcome barriers to implement the full term DAB practice in Sri Lanka because Sri Lankan construction industry mostly used Ad-hoc adjudication practice. Literature review was done together with the preliminary survey. The questionnaire survey and Semi structured interviews carried out among contractor and consultant organizations. The research findings revealed that a few of stakeholders knew the actual procedure of adjudication .The results of this study enable researchers to gain a deep understanding on the current DAB practice ,recognize significance of advantages and suggestions for the development of DAB in the construction industry of Sri Lanka.