With almost over 50 years of construction activities in the country, construction sectors still need to improve their techniques and technologies. The construction companies still lack enough skilled people to work. This was revealed during the 6th Annual Engineering Conference in Thimphu yesterday.
The Works and Human Settlement Minister, Lyonpo Yeshi Zimba said although the numbers of contractors are increasing every year the kind of work that they do is almost the same. He said even after many years of construction activities in the country, most of the workers are still hired from other countries.
“Construction industry actually has come a long way. There is tremendous improvement. Building, bridge and road are all constructed by the Bhutanese people. We are proud of what we have achieved but it is not good enough,” said the Minister.
Lyonpo also urged the engineers to make the maximum utilisation of the local materials available in the country. He also told the participants that the construction industry must be promoted through skills development and mechanisation.
“We are still doing things that we did in past; so much dependency on labour work, manual work and very little mechanism and hence poor quality,” said Lyonpo Yeshi Zimba, stressing that the construction industry must be strengthened.
Coinciding with the conference, Lyonpo formally inaugurated the Bhutan Association of Civil Engineers. The Association aims to build a professional scenario among the engineers. The launch of the Association is also aimed at protecting and promoting the ethical conducts and technical issues and also to act as a forum to share innovative ideas concerning all aspects of engineering in the country.
The Department of Roads also launched a booklet containing guidelines on use of standard work items for common road works.
The three day conference is attended by over 200 engineers from various agencies and construction companies across the country.
