The pandemic of COVID-19 has badly affected the corporate sector like all other spheres of life across the world and institutions are adapting to the “new normal” post pandemic spread.
With COVID-19 a global reality for the foreseeable future, the continuation of development projects amid travel restrictions, social distancing, and remote work requirements, was a big challenge for NESPAK. However, NESPAK faced the challenge head on and continued to render its services for national development projects spread across the country as the execution of these projects was very much necessary to keep the wheel of economy spinning in the national interest.
During the pandemic, NESPAK Management took necessary measures to keep its business running while also safeguarding the health of its staff. Since the announcement of a government circular about the implementation of the lockdown on March 22, 2020, NESPAK re-arranged its operational activities. The staff members engaged on important projects were asked to carry out activities like design work from home. All the timelines regarding Deliverables of all Project Activities were being met as per Consultancy Agreements. During the lockdown, MD Office remained open during the entire period and kept the wheel rolling.
Later on April 3, 2020, a notification was issued by Government of the Punjab and NESPAK was included in Necessary Services. Resultantly, NESPAK was allowed to start working with limited staff strength at its offices. Meanwhile, all the directions issued by the Health Department, Government of the Punjab to contain the spread of Corona virus were being implemented at NESPAK. Office protocols were changed to ensure workers’ safety. Issues such as decreasing the number of workers in the same office, social distancing rules, wearing face masks and using hand sanitizers were taken into account. Construction site protocols were also revised in terms of reducing working hours, providing more space and facilities for site supervisors and workers, hand washing rules etc. The NESPAK staff members were asked to continue work from home and also attend offices on a rotation basis whose presence was necessary to keep in view the project requirements while they also underwent precautionary measures like checking of body temperature at all entry points of NESPAK offices and project sites. Earlier, NESPAK also issued a COVID-19 health alert for the information of consultants and contractors’ staff and directed them to follow all the precautionary measures while performing their official duties.
The construction and engineering projects around the world are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in numerous ways, and many projects have stopped. However, NESPAK adopted a proactive response for construction planning, design, and management of mega projects. The working on mega hydropower projects like Mohmand Dam and Basha Diamer Dam projects was also a big task as both the projects are lifeline for the economy and development of the country. It’s a great honour for NESPAK that it has been working as a lead firm on both the dam projects while foreign consultants are acting as joint venture partners and associates. Had the foreign consultants been in the lead, the destiny of these dam projects would have been jeopardized given the pandemic scenario. As many foreign consultants had stopped work on different projects in Pakistan like a 600 MW Power Project in Sindh where a foreign consultant is a lead firm but they are unable to work there due to the pandemic and now NESPAK is being contacted to provide the Consultant role and restart the project. It is NESPAK that continued working not only on dam projects but on the rest of development projects also across the country.
Being the largest engineering consultancy house in Pakistan, NESPAK has been busy providing services for 343 local projects in different sectors like dams, highways, motorways, high-rise buildings, irrigation and public health engineering. Outside Pakistan, NESPAK is providing engineering consultancy services on 24 projects in Oman, Qatar, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies, specifically in consulting engineering sector, also faced financial difficulties. The economic situation caused limitations in project budgets, leading to human resources’ redundancies. However on this front too, NESPAK is coping well and disbursing salaries to employees regularly while keeping intact its financial position and upholding the trust of Clients.
The writer is Managing Director at NESPAK