Current Trends and Modernization of Construction Industry in Pakistan

Abstract

The construction industry is the second largest industry of the country after agriculture. However, contrary to its share in local economic market, the development in this sector is not at par with market demands. Though the use of various new technologies and deployment of project management strategies has made it possible to undertake projects of mega scale yet the industry direly needs a developmental strategy that could maintain its competitiveness in local as well as global scenario. A closer look at the current trends dictates that in its path of advancement, the industry has to overcome a number of challenges such as safety, corruption, shortage of skilled project managers, disaster resilient construction, and lack of familiarity to project management tools, unsupportive government policies, lack of commitment form top management and lack of adequate employee training. The paper gives an overview of the current trends & practices in the construction industry, identifying key factors impacting its growth towards modernization, as viewed by respondents, with the help of questionnaire-based research. Taking lead from existing databases, while remaining in realm of modern construction technologies, the paper further looks into the prospects of its modernization. The root causes of underpinning the performance of the industry have been focused, analyzed and then presented in the form of pie and other charts and concluded that the industry need to overcome various challenges of ethical issues, total quality management, project management, new equipment and techniques.

Keywords: Construction industry, current trends, questionnaire, project management