Message From the President

Our country Nepal is in a state of radical change brought about by the rebellious parties coming into the political main stream forming a common agenda i.e. building of New Nepal. This indeed is very good news welcomed by all Nepalese who have suffered long and agonizing years of political turmoil and disturbances in every day life. People are yarning for a peaceful settlement of all political issues thereby creating an environment of peace and progress of the country. Fortunately things seem to be moving in the right direction and with the commitments shown by the party leaders to bring about the economic revolution, we can hope for better time to come for all Nepalese.
 
The development of the country is a multifaceted activity which need to undertaken by all the actors. The actors include: the politicians, the bureaucrats, the project officials, the consultants, the contractors, the labors etc. For any development to take place appropriate infrastructures must be at place, because infrastructure is the basic prerequisites which facilitate establishment and the growth of development activities: be it in the field of education, tourism, health etc. or in the industry. In other words the role of consulting engineers comes in the forefront and plays an inevitable role in any development activities. By its very nature, engineering is intimately linked with the society and human behavior. Every product or every construction output used by the society will have been influenced by engineering design. Engineering is a powerful means to make changes to society, environment and the economies of the country and its application brings with it a great deal of responsibility towards the representative engineering institutions, its code of practice and ethics.
 
Arising from the root it holds in the society, engineering and thus the consultants need to be nurtured as a well respected profession. On the contrary, until recently engineers have been treated as a workforce rather than a development partner. There is no doubt that the engineering community is a backbone for the nation development and that the engineering is a key driver of human and economic development. The attainment of any Development Goals or a country's Economic Development Plans requires the achievement of sufficient engineering capacity to develop infrastructure and sustainable technological development. Although the profession is so intimately linked with the society, it has been observed that no appropriate recognition has been given to this sector by the government nor by the general community to the level it deserves. It is anticipated that with the New Government, which is being formed, will take necessary steps and formulate progressive policies to address above issues and as promised to the general public, will bring about economic revolution to transform the country into New Nepal.
 
The history of consulting industry in the country is not new anymore. During its continued operation it has picked up its growth in the early eighties and slowly and steadily it gained experiences towards self sufficiency. Despite unfavorable situation caused due to lack of appropriate Government policies, the industry has been able to sustain itself and has been able to contribute to national economy. The industry has, during its operation, developed its capability to the extent that, except for the complicated projects, it can handle most of the development projects on its own. Nepal’s economy is basically a rural based economy and hence the development activity demands no sophisticated technology, meaning required development technology is very much within the competence of the national consultants. During its long years of existence it has increased its capability but not to the extent it could have. This is mainly due to lack of serious attention of the government in recognizing this industry as an important service industry. Due to untiring efforts of SCAEF, the government has started listening and has been working to formulate strategies for its development. This indeed is a step forward for which SCAEF is obliged.
 
Brain drain, in the form of mid level technical man power leaving the country for the job elsewhere, has been on the rise. The reason for the brain drain has been to find better paying job. Due to limited job in the market and the adoption of the faulty procurement procedure by the government, the industry has not been able to pay attractive remuneration and hence have not been able to contain all the trained manpower in the country. SCAEF raised this issue to the concerned officials and requested to take positive step which will help retard, if not curb, the manpower drain. Due to this flow of trained manpower elsewhere it has caused a shortage of the technical man-power in the country. Our country is yet to embark upon the development activity. The country is eagerly waiting for some radical economic development program which has been promised by the political party forming the government. Therefore under the situation the shortage of manpower will have a detrimental effect on the development program as such. On one hand the country need to carry out the development activity for its economic growth but on the other hand the country is running short of the trained technical manpower who are supposed to be the backbone of the development activity. In this scenario SCAEF need to remain alert to work together with the government to find solution to the problem. Physical barrier or any other regulatory compulsion alone will not be able to curb the flow of technical manpower elsewhere. What we need to do is to create an environment that is attractive to the technical personnel and thus remain in the country itself.
 
In recognition to the challenges outlined above we obviously can not shy away from the responsibility that is going to come on the shoulder of all members of SCAEF. Therefore we need to prepare ourselves to face the eventuality for which all of us members need to meet regularly, discuss pertinent issues for the growth, sustenance and the welfare of the industry. Consulting industry is the knowledge based industry and in this 21st century knowledge society has become the basic foundation for the development of the nation. Thus we, the consultants need to strengthen our capability towards the acquisition and application of information and communication technology to maintain and update system inputs, outputs, effects and impacts of different development initiatives which will help to develop our capacity for providing consultancy services more expeditiously.
Our country is endowed with abundant natural resources which can be harnessed to uplift the economic situation of the people and the country at large. Appropriate policy, congenial environment and a definite will of: the government, the policy makers and the technocrats, are few of the commitments that are required to take the country forward and make it prosperous. We as technocrats got to look back to ourselves and should pledge to give quality final product which should be economical and last as it should. Due to lack of in-house fund for development, any projects undertaken would have used the hard earned resources for its implementation. Therefore the development partner can not afford to be negligent and hence we need to update ourselves in order to be more competent by giving training to our co-workers and subordinates.   
The political environment of the country at present is at the transition phase and in order that our cases are heard and listened by the government authority we also need to take initiatives ourselves to make our presence felt. We cannot afford to be complacent at this stage and hence I would urge all fellow consulting community and the member firms to be more vigilant and show our concern.


President
Society of Consulting Architectural and
Engineering Firms (SCAEF), Nepal (2008)