Massive Urbanization In Construction Industry Calls For Standardizing And Adopting Global Practices

By Namrata Kohli

As India urbanizes, re is a re is a huge amount of construction underway of buildings, transport and infrastructure. This calls for an imperative need for standardizing and opting global best practices in Indian construction industry.

India is urbanizing at a fast pace and UN projects that by 2050, urban population will surpass its rural counterpart. As India urbanizes, re will be a huge demand for residential, commercial buildings, infrastructure and transportation - in short, construction will be at an unprecedented level. All this makes a case to create best standards and practices in India’s construction industry.

recent 15th Vishwakarma Awards by Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) set agenda for best practices in construction industry, highlighting importance of new technologies, enhanced skill sets, and sustainable practices. CIDC was established by Planning Commission, Government of India (now Niti Aayog) for Indian construction industry in 1996, and serves as an apex organization, promoting activities for growth and enhancement of Indian construction industry.

Vinayak Pai, CEO and MD, Tata Projects, winner of 15th CIDC Vishwakarma Doyen of Industry 2024 award, spoke about how “ amount of investment both in public and private sectors in country is unparalleled across world at this time. Every year government alone talks about Rs 10-11 lakh crore of investment. That's only from central government. If you d state government and private sector construction, it is Rs 25 lakh crore.” At his organisation, Pai is working to create an ecosystem where projects are planned well and delivered predictably. Says Vinayak Pai, “At Tata Projects we have taken mantra of predictable project delivery. This is one of biggest challenges facing industry at this time. Data from central statistics organisation shows that more than 2/3rds of projects get delayed. average delay is almost 18 months and re is a cost over-run of at least 30%, if you take average of all projects. This data is not what government or private industry can be proud of.” y are also trying to increase use of Bio-Diesel and track carbon footprint in order to consciously reduce it.

A big issue construction sector is plagued with is problem of skilled labour, or lack of it. According to E Jayashree Kurup, Editor CIDC Nirman, “Your educational institutes teach you basics. But construction is not a oretical field. A foreman can teach an engineer practical aspects on worksites, way more than professor probably in classroom. But for that y need to go on field and work with foreman and supervisors. So, we are strongly vocating internship and apprenticeship for engineers. This is very similar to what happens in health sector. Doctors finish ir residency before being awarded ir degrees. same thing needs to happen here because downside to this gap between practical and oretical knowledge is great. y are liable to make far greater mistakes if y do not have practical exposure...and when it’s about construction...thousands of lives are at stake.” 
showstopper in this category was Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL) which was awarded Best Metro Project for this Year. Says T Archunan, Director Projects, Chennai Metro Rail Corporation, “Skilling is need of hour. Our 22,000 labourers on site needed to be tested, trained and certified. We realised that skill level of workforce is generally unknown. So not only do you want to update yourself with skill set available in your workforce but also upskill m. And upskilling such a workforce in significant numbers is quite a task. When skilling is done, team spirit and productivity increases and workforce feels more involved. Orwise, retention is an issue because multiple worksites are active and contractors find it easy to poach trained manpower. This may come down in future. Secondly, safety audit by third party auditors like IIT Chennai and CIDC shows transparency. And smaller companies will sooner or later realise that re are downsides to not following such practices. re are cost over runs, time over runs and quality tends to suffer.”

Health, safety and environment (HSE) was anor subject which was discussed at this construction sector event. Says Kurup- “re are tangible financial rewards if you manage your employees’ HSE. Yes, results show up over a period of time and not instantly. But today workforce is very precious. From an abundant workforce, we are now in a state of concentrated workforce. re are only a handful of states from where most of workforce is coming. And re is so much employment in or sectors such as technology, engineering, MNREGA at municipal level and so on. When such local employment is available, people don’t want to migrate to or places that is alien to m in terms of food, culture, language. refore, maintaining and managing available workforce becomes important and refore healthcare and safety practices.”

Lack of credible consultants is anor bottleneck area. Capacity building is needed for current employees to meet contemporary requirements of industry. According to Dr PR Swarup, Director General of CIDC, “After analysing various parameters such as carbon footprints, limited time etc, steel has come out as a winner and is being considered for its use in construction. Proper consultations with regards to its application is required. However, we don’t have those kinds of consultants. re is a gap between bookish knowledge and on ground reality in construction industry.”

A large number of projects in different categories were awarded for various milestone achievements. Among m New Parliament Building Project by TATA Projects Ltd., and initiatives by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), were lauded for ir exemplary execution and impact on India’s infrastructure. A critical aspect of construction industry today is health and safety of employees and conducive environment for m to work in. Some awardees were Project Safety Initiative by L&T Construction for leing health and safety practices on construction site; Green Building Project by Godrej Properties for setting benchmarks in environmental sustainability in construction and Trenchless Technology initiative by Afcons Infrastructure Limited for efforts in minimizing environmental impact. CIDC training creates categories of workforces such as Nirman Nayaks, Gunwatta Nayaks and Suraksha Nayaks, giving recognition to quality and safety parameters in construction.

Best practices now are not good to do but must do initiatives. Operational hes usually are so busy that y often do not have time to stop and think. That is why events such as CIDC Vishwakarma awards bring big and small of industry toger, to learn from each or and jointly push needle furr.