The global construction industry is spending more and more on resolving disputes, with financial costs in the past two decades reaching billions of dollars.

The construction sector is of significant strategic importance to many countries in Africa, especially South Africa, where the total expenditure on construction works and related activities alone is valued to be more than R430.2 billion (US $29.9 billion). With such a high amount being spent on construction projects, any disputes that arise must not be a drain on business resources by dragging on for months, or in some cases years.