Construction in India: empowering the citizenry through improved performance

The theme of this “1st Global Colloquium on Recent Advancements and Effectual Researches in Engineering, Science and Technology” is: “Human Empowerment through Technology”. One of the ‘areas’ is Civil Engineering, and the topics under that area are: Structural and Construction Engineering, Advanced Construction Materials, Transportation Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Engineering. One of the sub-topics is: “Construction Materials and Management”. The paper is on Construction Management. The aim of this study is to contribute to the effort to improve the quality of life of our populations by applying new science and technology to enable the construction industry of India to play its due role in national development with greater efficiency and effectiveness. Construction is a little understood and not well appreciated industry; the construction industry has little public or even official presence. It is rare to see comprehensive plans being made to prepare the industry for the tasks it must accomplish in order to improve the quality of life of the citizenry. What are the built products that India will need in future? What kind of construction industry will be required to deliver these products? What will be the economic, social and environmental impact? What needs to be done to prepare the industry to fulfil its tasks in building these items? What will the enablers and constraints be, and what will be the pre-requisites for effective action? How can the construction industry enhance its capacity and capability as it builds the future items? How can India best use the construction industry which emerges from the development of the future items? To establish how the construction industry can be prepared for its future tasks, an understanding of the construction industry, the construction process and the constructed output is important. Thus, the objectives are to find answers to these questions: What is the nature of the construction industry? What does the industry need to perform well? What is the current position in terms of the performance of the industry in India? How does it compare with the situation abroad? How can the industry better utilise the innovations which will be made available through progress under each of the topics covered in this colloquium? How can we move the construction industry of India forward? It is argued that all the subjects covered in this colloquium are important to the development of the construction industry’s capabilities. A key point is how the areas of focus and knowledge in science and technology covered in this colloquium are brought together to deal with the problems and issues at hand in order to make any product or facility. This will involve a combination of hard and soft skills. It will be necessary to understand systems, processes and procedures as well as people, both as individuals and as groups. Soft skills under motivation, leadership, professionalism, and stakeholder management have to be developed among scientists and engineers as well as policy makers. Education and research have a role to play.