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Some careers are measured in years. Prof. Indrawansa Samaratunga DSc, FRICS, LFAIQS, FCIArb, FCIOB measures his in decades, and in the depth of what those decades have produced. A Chartered Surveyor, Arbitrator, Mediator, Chartered Quantity Surveyor and one of the most respected contract administration professionals in the Gulf region, Prof. Samaratunga has spent six decades at the intersection of construction, law and dispute resolution. His story is not simply one of professional achievement. It is one of relentless commitment to an industry he believes can and must do better.
A career built from the ground up
Prof. Samaratunga began his career as a Quantity Surveyor, working his way through measurements and the valuation of variations before developing a deep interest in the administration of contracts. The move from Sri Lanka to the Middle East opened a new world of exposure, arriving at a time when the Old Red Book of FIDIC was still in its second edition.
What struck him even then was the gap between what the standard forms of contract contained and what practitioners actually understood about them. As the Old Red Book progressed through its editions, reaching what he considers its most refined form in the fourth edition, an almost perfect standard form of contract that remains to this day the benchmark, it became increasingly clear to him that construction professionals were not being adequately equipped during their education to identify the concerns embedded in standard and bespoke contracts, let alone administer them with the awareness required to avoid disputes.
That observation would go on to shape much of the work that followed.
The case for contract administration
In an industry where the word contract is used daily and understood far less often, Prof. Samaratunga makes the case for contract administration with both urgency and clarity.
It begins, he explains, with the ability to read and understand a contract: the obligations, the rights and entitlements, the liabilities of every party involved. From there, administration means ensuring those obligations are discharged, those entitlements are secured and those liabilities are avoided, all in a manner consistent with the applicable law. Any failure in that process leads to disputes. And disputes, in the construction industry, are extraordinarily costly.
Trillions of dollars are spent every year resolving commercial disputes that, in many cases, could have been avoided entirely. In a world where death by starvation is not uncommon to hear of, he reflects, if even a fraction of that waste could be stopped, the benefits would be immense. It is a perspective that reframes contract administration not as a technical discipline but as a moral one.
At the centre of the industry’s most complex disputes
As a registered arbitrator with both the London Court of International Arbitration and the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, Prof. Samaratunga has navigated some of the most complex disputes the construction industry produces. What he has witnessed consistently across those cases are two recurring causes of conflict: the assertion of claims where no genuine entitlement exists, and the denial of claims that are entirely just and fair.
Almost every contract contains detailed provisions for resolving disputes once they arise. Almost none contain any guidance on how to prevent them in the first place. That absence, he believes, is one of the industry’s most significant and most overlooked failures.
Closing the education gap
It was this gap that led Prof. Samaratunga to dedicate a significant part of his career to training the next generation of contract administrators. The challenge he identified is structural. Within the limited duration of a four-year degree, tertiary education cannot cover everything. Engineering, project management, planning, quality control, cost management all compete for space in the curriculum. Contract administration falls through the gaps.
Yet when graduates enter the industry, their employers expect them not only to practise their professional discipline but to administer contracts competently from day one. The knowledge is missing. The expectation remains. And the professionals capable of bridging that gap are, as Prof. Samaratunga notes with characteristic candour, extraordinarily rare.
He has spent years being one of them, bringing expertise shaped across projects ranging from the world’s tallest tower to airports, infrastructure developments and some of the most prestigious buildings in the region.
Five decades of witnessing transformation
Prof. Samaratunga arrived in this region more than five decades ago, spending 22 years in Oman before making Dubai home for the past 29 years. The transformation he has witnessed across that time, he says, defies easy description.
Looking back at photographs from those early years, he finds himself marvelling at what has been achieved in so short a period. The world class living standards, the built environment, the ambition of the leadership and what it has produced. It is against that backdrop that he speaks of his own continuing contribution: if a world class standard of contract administration could be established to match the world class construction industry that the region is striving toward, that would be the contribution he most wants to make in return for everything this part of the world has given him.
He is now in his eighties. He has not stopped working.
A message to the next generation
For the young professionals entering the field today, Prof. Samaratunga’s message is both an encouragement and a challenge. The construction industry is facing a global skills shortage. School leavers and graduates are moving toward digital technologies and away from the human interaction that professions like contract administration demand. Meanwhile, trillions of dollars continue to be spent resolving disputes that need never have arisen.
The opportunity, he believes, is significant and largely unseen. A career in contract administration is one from which a practitioner can gain not only strong professional prospects but genuine personal satisfaction, knowing that the work they do is preventing waste, protecting relationships and contributing something meaningful to an industry that touches every aspect of how the world is built.
The awareness, he says, simply needs to reach the people who need it most. That has been his mission for six decades. It remains his mission today.
Prof. Indrawansa Samaratunga DSc is a Chartered Surveyor, Arbitrator, Mediator and one of the Gulf region’s leading authorities on contract administration and dispute resolution. To learn more about his work visit drsamfze.com. This piece is part of The Minds Behind the Build, PAGES’ ongoing series celebrating the founders and leaders shaping the built environment.
