Contractors say the finance ministry’s evaluation guideline is too restrictive and needs to be relaxed.
The guideline restricts contractors from employing Bhutanese engineers and technical graduates who are straight out of colleges and those with less than three years experience.
They are awarded zero point whereas experienced engineers and technical graduates are awarded according to their years of experience.
“…I feel many university graduates with good academic marks are excellent in drawings, estimations, and any calculations and more capable than some experienced engineer,” said a contractor, Pema Tobgay.
Contractors, during their annual general meeting yesterday, proposed the ministry that a minimum of 5-10 marks be awarded to fresh graduates in the evaluation guideline.
But, the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement’s Secretary Phuntsho Wangdi said there are risks associated with employing inexperienced engineers.
“We have a system that looks for experienced personnel for the fact that products have to be delivered on time.” He said their product has to be durable and useful.
“We have accepted that we will look in to the evaluation criteria. We will try to relax the stringent requirement of experienced manpower so that we can include the fresh graduates who are out there in abundance so we can make use of our own resources.”
Contractors Association of Bhutan feels this move would not only ease the unemployment problem but will also curb the huge influx of foreign nationals in Bhutan.
