Dr. S.M. Shahid Alam sets criterion for Pakistan’s one of the most FAQs, CPEC.
Is China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a game changer? A frequently asked question (FAQ) which is intelligently replied rather ducked by a senior engineer Dr. S.M. Shahid Alam Chief Executive who heads Exponent Engineers Pvt, Ltd. saying we need to look at our society where the answer to this question is visible.
Is there any prevalence of skills in the people, is technology transfer taking place and are our consultants and contractors heavily involved in the projects? This is a criterion which explains whether CPEC is a game changer for Pakistan, he says.
When there is a boom in any country, there appears a transformation in the society as it happened in Malaysia. Each and every section of the society is geared up and thus it hugely bolsters the economy. My question is if it happened in Pakistan with the CPEC?
Dr. Shahid said the engineers just execute the projects and are tiny tools in a large machine. What CPEC has brought to Pakistan is something only the policymakers know.
Initiatives like CPEC are widely debated in other countries where all stakeholders and engineers are ought to get in touch through consultative mechanisms so that the technical feasibility is determined. Here we don’t see any such exercise, he said.
When asked if the Pakistan Engineering Council had any role in CPEC? Was the council consulted in this respect, he asked. I don’t know if it was.
Dr. Shahid is sure that local contractors cannot be part of the process because of the unavailability of a trained human resource, technology, and financial resources.
But the question is why we don’t see any pressure in the society for corrections. The policymakers might be busy somewhere else! Visibly critical, Dr. Shahid said they {the policymakers} have many other great jobs to deal with.
He said good decisions appear in the country with a good education system and justice only. Then, jobs would be done without greed and selfishness.
Consultants
They are in a survival mode. Those who walk along with the system are happy and those not are struggling.
The members of the Association of Consulting Engineers Pakistan (ACEP) are busy in their projects and thus many issues are to be resolved.
Pakistan Academy of Engineers
This academy is the brainchild of Dr. Jamil Ahmed Khan. We work for it voluntarily and spreading knowledge as regards new innovations in the world of engineering and bring under discussion brand new topics.
We wish the governments should make us {the engineers} part and parcel of the consultative process for engineering initiatives and don’t expect any financial gains. We can be a valued input to the policy makers and thus the gap between them and engineers would be bridged too.
