Construction industry post-COVID-19 recovery: Stakeholders perspective on achieving sustainable development goals

Abstract

Many countries lockdown and safety guidelines enforcement due to Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) affected the construction sector, which is one of the highest labour-intensive industries. Therefore, Nigeria’s COVID-19 scenario may hinder sustainable development goals projects connected with the construction sector. Hence, this study investigated the challenges faced during the pandemic and proffer feasible solutions through the stakeholders’ perspective to direct the post-COVID-19 recovery phase into a sustainable path for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) connected to the construction sector. This was conducted in sequence. First, the face-to-face interviews and results from the qualitative phase were further analysed through a questionnaire survey within Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. Findings suggest management efficiency improvement, construction companies accelerate rollout and adoption of digitalisation technologies with government support, new skill-building on new tools and technologies, and government should increase the budget on infrastructure facilities as part of the feasible solutions to direct the post-COVID-19 recovery phase to achieve SDGs. In conclusion, the outcome of this paper will shed light on how collaboration with relevant stakeholders and the use of 4IR technologies can stir up attaining the SDGs associated with the sector in the post-COVID-19 recovery era.

Keywords:

• Construction
• COVID-19
• mixed-method research design
• Nigeria
• stakeholders
• sustainable development goals

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the participants and respondents for providing knowledgeable contributions to enhance the findings of this paper. Also, the authors appreciate the comments, suggestions, and recommendations provided by the anonymous reviewers, which collectively helped hone and strengthen the quality of this manuscript during the blind peer-review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment and CIDB Centre of Excellence (05-35-061890), University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.