India’s infrastructure sector has a skilled labour problem

Earmarking 3-4 per cent of GDP for infrastructure development is not enough, availability of skilled workforce is the deciding factor.

Does India need a database of construction workers with certified skills, for the industry to draw upon? It probably does, because this is a pan-India problem. Even when workers are available, their skills training is not factored in. This problem gains importance now because on February 1 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman indicated that 3-4 per cent of GDP would be spent on infrastructure construction.

Take the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (CMRL) for instance. It needs over 20,000 workers at the blue, grey, and white collared levels. According to T Archunan, Director Projects of CMRL, white-collared engineering professionals are easier to find. However, the grey-collared middle operational level with specialist skills in building information systems (BIM), multi-project management software, and also those operating complex construction equipment are in short supply. In a country where upwards of 20 cities have metro construction going on, certified professionals and workmen are poached regularly. With work picking up in West Asia, global organisations poach trained metro engineers from India, at much higher fees. To put the problem in perspective, at least 67 engineers resigned from the CMRL alone in the past year.

Training needs: Their replacements with 10-12 years’ work experience are not easily available because educational institutions teach generic skills and specialised skills equipping them to work on complex projects and technologies can only be acquired either on project sites or special refresher courses of about six months, or so. Today companies have opened their purse strings, but construction has not been a favoured stream because of tough working conditions. Also, advanced training centres are few, and so are ITIs and vocational training institutions.

With such high attrition rates, who would spend resources on training! Many suggest that a 1 per cent project cost for worker training would solve the problem, but that is not implemented. The worker cess collected by states over the years is lying unused because the policy is that not more than 15 per cent of this cess can be used for educating the workforce. Also, many states stipulate that the workforce from other states cannot be trained using these funds. The reality is that India’s worksites have workers largely from four states — Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal.

Career path: The CMRL has asked the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) to test, certify, and train its workforce belonging to different sub-contractors. Through this process, well-skilled and articulate workers get a chance to become foremen, who are then entrusted with the task of training others. This also opens up a career path where these foremen become diploma engineers by clearing relevant examinations. This creates a clear career path in an industry that is set to dominate the employment landscape for the next decade or two.

It is also a cause for concern that the number of large contracting companies has reduced from about 30 in 2008 to six currently. Many went under because of contract disputes and poor payment schedules, along with rapid technology upgrades. For example, contracts are often framed by clients who do not understand the on-ground risks. At a recent conference, Anurag Jain, Secretary Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) explained how this anomaly leads to disputes resulting in time and cost overruns. As a result, a large part of the budget allocations must be spent on dispute resolution.

Today these issues are being reduced with the NHAI provisioning that at least 80 per cent of the land must be acquired and an undertaking given that the rest of the land can be acquired soon, before starting a project, reducing contract risk.

Dispute resolution: Even dispute resolution and arbitration are a specialised field and many times generic verdicts do not suffice to resolve issues on the ground. A clear case for specialisation in legal studies and drafting relating to contract documentation and dispute resolution and arbitration.

The problems are many and the industry is so busy executing that it has no time to stop and reset. The initiatives must come from government agencies and industry bodies like CIDC. Today voices are being raised and heard in government circles. Solutions need to come at a faster pace if the dream of a $5 trillion economy must be met.

(E Jayashree Kurup is a writer-researcher in real estate, and Director, Real Estate & Cities, Wordmeister Editorial Services. Views are personal.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.