KARACHI:The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) have teamed up to provide the opportunity to the students and graduates of the engineering universities in the country to work on the projects, which enable them to get firsthand knowledge about housing sector and construction industry.

The agreement to this effect was signed at a ceremony here at the ABAD head office and witnessed by the leading representatives of the construction industry and engineering fraternity, according to a statement issued Wednesday. Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Akhuwat Foundation’s founder, Dr Amjad Saqib, said the engineering graduates and associations like ABAD had to play an active role to resolve the housing problems of 10 million people in the country without having their homes.

He said the graduates of the engineering universities should come forward and use their academic knowledge to resolve the basic issues of the 50 per cent underprivileged population in the country.

PEC Chairman, Najeeb Haroon, said that Pakistan should declare an engineering emergency like the medical emergency was often declared so to get the expertise of qualified engineers to resolve major national issues like energy crisis, water shortage, and development of civic infrastructure.

He was of the view that engineers with their practical knowledge of several sectors could play an important role in the development and progress of the country.

ABAD Chairman Mohsin Shaikhani said the housing industry in Pakistan needed the expertise of all the relevant professionals who could modernize the construction of buildings in accordance with the global trends.

He said the agreement signed by the ABAD would enable it to get connectivity with all the professionals related to the construction industry as the PEC was their sole accrediting body. He said the accord between the ABAD and PEC would enable the engineering students to work at the actual building sites for the growth of the construction industry.

Engineer Mir Masood Rashid, the convener of the Pakistan Development Committee of the PEC, said the new agreement had been envisaged by his committee in line with its efforts to give due recognition to the graduates of the engineering disciplines by establishing a firm linkage between them and the related industries.

He said one of the provisions of the agreement stood for arranging two field trips for the third-year students of the engineering degree programmes to get practical knowledge about the building sector.

Rashid informed the audience that the accord envisaged the preparation of a list of the topics to be chosen by the engineering students for their final-year projects for providing practical solutions to the current issues in the housing sector like faulty sewage systems.

He said the engineering graduates would also get the opportunity to do internships in the construction industry for six months as the PEC would contribute towards the payment of the stipend to the interns.

Arif Changezi, Chairman of the Council of Architects and Town Planners, hoped that the agreement would go a long way to improve the built environment in the country and also resolve major issues of the construction industry like the fast-shrinking sizes of open public spaces in the urban areas.