Availability of skilled human resources key challenge for Pakistan: World Bank study
FAISALABAD (February 17 2008): The key challenge for Pakistan is the availability of adequately qualified and skilled human resources in infrastructure sector, which are essential for sustained growth and development of the capacity of construction industry to undertake large volumes of work with acceptable standards of quality workmanship, said a World Bank study.
According to the report of 'South Asia Sustainable Development Unit, (SASSD), South Asia Region of World Bank, there is need to train a very large number of engineers, junior engineers, and skilled and administrative staff. To work out the cost of training at different levels within Pakistan and abroad seems premature at this stage. It can be a lengthy and complex exercise. At this stage, a simplified way would be to relate cost of training to the size of the infrastructure program at hand.
The World Bank study said that the aggregate size of the program for the 2005-2010 period is approximately Rs 1,400 billion, and a half percent of this program will be Rs 7 billion, or approximately $117 million. If funds are allocated according to this low percentage figure, it would work out to be almost $23 million annually for the next 5 years.
This figure will give a start to the training program and can be modified as it develops. Investment will promote excellence in education and training, and trained manpower would produce results far in excess of the investment.
A detailed and comprehensive program of education and training will also be necessary in consultation with the stakeholders. Lack of trained manpower in Pakistan has been the result of years of neglect. This opportunity should be cashed with a sense of urgency and immediacy. Trained manpower available before the planned infrastructure program gets fully launched will be of great benefit, the World Bank study said.
According to the study, shortage of professional and adequately skilled personnel in the industry (among clients, contractors and consultants) in developing countries both in the form of management and for field operations has been widely cited across the reviewed literature.
Largely, WB study stated, non-professional managers and insufficiently qualified technical personnel head contracting firms in Pakistan. Even though Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) bylaws make it mandatory to employ graduates, most contractors fail to do so.
This imposes severe limitations on capacity as well as the quality of work. Apart from technical weaknesses they also lack skills for risk management, marketing, financial control, work organisation and quality control. The above-mentioned contractors' inadequacies are further compounded by the dearth of trained operators of machinery, professional engineers and skilled tradesmen.
For delivering the MTDF planned infrastructure, the WB study stated that the professionals and technical staff required is in thousands. The government needs to take steps to enlarge the available pool of skilled HR at the outset, and concurrently increase the level of skills.
To enlarge the pool, appropriate skilled personnel can be imported from regional countries to fill the numbers and skill gap. This could be a temporary stopgap measure. However, keeping in mind the wage differentials, this strategy will be more costly for contractors and consultants when compared with hiring locally.
Another possibility is to reverse the trend of brain drain, which could potentially increase the supply of locally available engineers by a thousand and technical staff by 3,000 or more, each year.
The most viable option is to increase enrolment of students in higher education and technical and vocations institutes leading to professional, vocational and administrative careers in the construction sector and at the same time, arresting and reversing the brain drain by providing better employment opportunities, increasing local salaries and benefits.
Besides restructuring the local salaries, WB study said, one option in this respect would be to put in place policies which offer Pakistanis' with foreign experience wages equivalent to regional countries, such as the UAE, and those Pakistanis who have a foreign nationality, expatriate wages should be considered.
Ultimately, higher salaries and other benefits will have to be the first step in attracting HR into the industry. Once the incentives to enter the industry are in place, the recommendations made pertaining to training and enhancing skills can be used to upgrade the skills of fresh graduates and existing engineers and technical staff to implement large infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
To increase the skill sets, training of current employees in the construction sector should be conducted both within Pakistan and abroad. Foreign training should be considered for specialised fields, where it is not available in the country, and for providing broader training in fields where more experienced personnel can benefit the most. Distance learning programs can also be adopted for such purposes, said the WB study.
At present, some of the foreign consultants, contractors working in Pakistan can train within their organisations, in or out of Pakistan, as part of their contract, and World Bank, USAID, ILO, ADB, Japanese Assistance Programme and others can help with placements, with a combination of university courses combined with field training.
Within Pakistan, WB study pointed out, engineering universities and other professional schools can offer training programs geared towards meeting the needs of this sector and enlarging the pool over the long-term. Where teachers are not available, foreign staff can be recruited and training of trainers programs be started.
Programs in training institutes like NAVTEC, TEVTA, CMTI and others should be expanded and established in all provinces for developing diploma holders and skilled workers. Existing laboratory facilities at Wapda, Road Research Institute Punjab, NTRC and others could be geared for training of technicians at a mass scale.
Similarly, skilled equipment operators and mechanics can be trained with the collaboration of equipment manufacturers and suppliers as was done in China and Malaysia. In addition, the example of the HR Development Fund in Malaysia, which provides for industry demand-driven training, could be emulated to promote skills training.
All these measures will have to be taken to enhance the manpower pool and upgrade the skills on an emergent basis. The WB study said that the quality of engineering and technical education has to be revamped and made applicable to the needs of the construction sector.
It would be safe to say that training is required almost in all fields and at all levels. To quote only one area--highways--consultants need to be trained and equipped in these subjects:
- Survey of alignment with modern methods of survey including aerial and ground survey with the use of modern equipment: Correct alignment can save large sums of money by staking out the most economical routes, identifying soils, locating construction materials and identifying bridge locations, estimating costs before getting into detailed field surveys.
- Geometric design of roads and highways: For ordinary roads or high speed highways, CAD can help geometric design. This ultimately helps safe and functional utility in short-time frame when coupled with advanced survey tools. Some software offers design of allied structure, drainage and quantity calculation.
- Soil analysis and structural design of pavement: It offers identifying soils, correct and economical design of pavements for durability, coupled with field control, material's testing. It can avoid costly mistakes.
- Field training of maintaining and using construction equipment for soil transportation, compaction and handling of various materials during construction.
- Concrete bridges and culverts at design as well as construction planning and supervision stage. Prefabrication, use of prestressed design and industrialised construction can reduce time, cost and improve quality. - Project planning helps consultants, contractor and client's precious time and increases their profits.
Similar, training is required almost in all other fields, be these transmission towers or design and construction of dams. Consultation with stakeholders and reviews of the nature of future projects will determine what exactly is needed.
Fresh graduates should be required to undertake training prior to getting accreditation from PEC and mid-level career exams could be introduced to cultivate a culture of learning.
Motivation could be provided through an appropriate incentives program designed in consultation with the trade associations, regulatory bodies and client agencies. In tackling the human resource problem it is critical to focus not just only on the human resources requirements of consultants and contractors but of the client as well. The fastest way to improve the quality of infrastructure output is from the demand side.
If the client specifies a higher quality of work the standards of infrastructure services and outputs will certainly be improved. The government with its dual role of a client and policy maker is the most effective agent of change but in order for this to happen, managerial and professional capacity of the client has to be enhanced.
Specialised training to appropriate personnel in relevant areas and exposure to international best practices and successful infrastructure experiences in the developed and developing world should be provided.
To provide an incentive for learning, one option could be to link the promotion of civil servant technocrats to the next higher grade with the completion of prescribed technical continuing education and project management courses and public expenditure management training. Revising the remuneration scales and perhaps monetising the perks of civil servants could also prove to be an incentive to attract better qualified staff, the study said.
Business Recorder [Pakistan's First Financial Daily]
