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.
