TURKEY is preparing legislation to tighten regulations for the construction business amid growing safety woes in the sector, the Hurriyet Daily reports.

The Environment and Urban Planning Ministry is working on a contractor law which could result in 30 percent of contractors in the business losing their licenses.

A deadly elevator collapse at construction site of a luxurious tower in Istanbul that cost the life of 10 workers has put the irregularities and safety weaknesses of the sector under the spotlight.

The law was first heralded by Environment and Urban Planning Minister İdris Güllüce in a Twitter post on Sept. 11. “We are working on the contractor law. We will send it to Parliament after it is completed,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

Ministry sources confirmed the studies, saying they were working on a regulation that would audit contractors’ technical and financial competence, classify them and increase punishments.

The draft, which has also been worked on by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and the Confederation of Construction Contractors (İMKON), is expected to be sent to Parliament within two months.

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, İMKON Chairman Tahir Tellioğlu said they had been working on drawing up a contractor law for six months.

He said the move aimed to remove “rotten contractors” from the sector, which could mean banning around 30 percent of the 300,000 contractors currently active in the sector.

The first step will be to create a definition for the job of contracting in the country, Tellioğlu said. “We will define the job first and oversee it later.”

Contractors without a certificate of competence will be banned from doing business in Turkey and abroad. Likewise, contractors who are proven to be committing professional errors or duping consumers will be excommunicated from the profession, he added. 

Meanwhile, the head of the Housing Developers and Investors Association (KONUTDER), Ömer Faruk Çelik, said the sector needed more comprehensive restructuring.

“Regulations prepared in hurry don’t achieve their primary purposes,” he said. “If there is going to be a regulation, all parties should sit down and discuss it.” 

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan had also said Turkey needed a comprehensive change in the construction sector that approached all aspects of the business.

The government also needs to take steps that will prevent unmeasured transactions in the real estate, according to Babacan