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| Friday, 26 March 2004 |
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Dwarf status for State engineering giant by Chandani Jayatilleke The institution which undertook and successfully completed giant
development projects such as the Mahaweli, is now thirsting for more such
projects, saying that their expertise and skills are going waste.
Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB), an institution armed with the cream of engineers and architects in the country, was the associate consultant for the studies, design, construction and project management of the projects of the accelerated Mahaweli Development Program from 1978 to 1990. The projects which came under the Mahaweli included Victoria, Kotmale, Randenigala, Rantembe power projects and Maduru Oya irrigation project. CECB's current resource base includes around 700 personnel of whom 60% represent professional and technical grade staff. "One way to make use of the full potential of our engineering talent is to undertake more construction projects which are funded by foreign lending agencies," said Chairman CECB, H.B. Jayasekera. "Unfortunately, the development projects are launched with funding through foreign lending agencies and the Government would often hire foreign consultants neglecting our talent and skills. So-called foreign consultants arrive here only with a brief case and hire us to work on our own projects and dictate terms to us. This has to be corrected. The party, whichever in power, should be able to negotiate rules and regulations when they accept foreign loans which are being termed as 'grant-loans', said Jayasekera. "We have to have some sort of hold in these projects." For instance, he said at present the CECB is in the process of designing bridges and culverts of the Southern Highway on behalf of the foreign consultant Kumagai. The CECB along with its predecessor, the Engineering Studies Organisation has already shown its capabilities to handle mega projects, by functioning as the main consultant for the design and project management of the Bowatenna Hydroelectric Power Project and the Canyon phase I and phase II hydroelectric power projects. The CECB is a statutory industrial undertaking formed in 1973 to provide multi-disciplinary consultancy services for water resources development projects. However, following the completion of Mahaweli (as the workload was reduced), the CECB decided to venture into developing other infrastructure areas. The services currently provided by the CECB include feasibility studies for hydroelectric, irrigation and other water resource projects, engineering of high rise buildings, town planning, hospitals, highways, water supply and sewerage and building services. "We got into the health sector projects and started doing new buildings for hospitals and also undertook a contract to maintain and repair hospital buildings islandwide which we continue to do." At the same time, the CECB has undertaken to do buildings for the postal department. "Currently we are in the process of setting up new post offices throughout the country and one of the leading projects now under construction is the Postal Department head office down D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha." CECB also has the distinction of reconstructing and the Central Bank building in Colombo from ashes and is constructing its new building. Thanks to a senior official of the CB, the CECB got the contract, Jayasekera said adding that 'otherwise it was to be given to a foreign company.' Though the CECB is recognised as a consultancy firm, fully owned by the Government, there is no assurance that development projects launched by the Government would be undertaken by the CECB. "We have to market and promote our institution by ourselves. So far, we have been able to get both private and public sector construction projects and run the institution successfully. Still, it's shame on us to see many large projects being handled by foreign companies," he said. Among the projects undertaken by the CECB are Western Provincial Council headquarters, Gampaha Pradeshiya Sabha Building, Colombo Kachcheri complex in Narahenpita, Galle Kachcheri complex, Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council headquarters, Tandon factory in Kandy and several other BOI projects in the Export Processing Zones. "Tandon gave us a deadline of 90 days and no other company could have done it as there was hardly any time, even to import fabrication material. But we used all local material and completed the project, 11 days ahead of the deadline. They later gave us a second project too," Jayasekera said. If you have been to any of those dedicated economic centres, you may have noticed the handy work by the CECB. "We did the construction of building projects from Dambulla market to all other economic centres." Among the projects in line for CECB are the Upper Kotmale hydro project and the construction of several housing projects in and around Colombo. The CECB is also into road construction projects in a big way. With its vast experience, CECB is geared to make a significant contribution to the major road projects in the country. Engineering consultancy remains the main area of interest of the institution, contributing about 80% to its turnover. Consultancy services provided by CECB range in size and engineering complexity from minor projects such as housing for armed forces to engineering consultancy tailored to meet the requirements of large multi-disciplinary projects. The CECB strongly believes that it's their duty to perform with a sense of responsibility and look after the interests of their countrymen. "Having this in mind we'll continue to market ourselves as a leading consultancy and construction institution in the country and to convince the authorities concerned that it should get more projects under their wings than offering them to foreign firms." However, he said the institution has also developed excellent rapport with a number of consultancy firms of international repute with whom the CECB could work in unison. |
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