Construction experts discussed how to improve the efficiency of budget investment projects

On October 8, there was a video conference, organized as part of the implementation of the Program "Training of Sectoral Managers in Change Management for the Implementation of Institutional Reforms and the 100 Step Nation Plan". The Construction team presented their vision of new approaches in the design, planning and implementation of budget investment projects aimed at increasing their efficiency. The meeting, initiated by the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation, brought together representatives of key construction associations.

In the private sector, Project Management is actively practiced at all stages of construction, at each of which the relevant industry experts and consultants are involved in the process. In the public sector is used only at the stage of construction and installation work. Meanwhile, in world practice, this has been accepted for a long time, for example, in the UK since 2012. According to industry managers from the Construction team, Project Management should be brought into mediators between the Customer and the rest of the project participants, such as General Designer, Contractor, Designer Supervision, Technical Supervision and Operation, which, according to the initiators, will increase the efficiency of planning and designing budget investment projects and will also give the status of a Project Management Company.

In addition, it is proposed to create a Project Management Office of the Customer, on the competence of which, in the opinion of the leader of the Construction team, Arzhan Bugubaev, a lot depends. Increasing the competence of customers in the field of project management, as well as other project participants, is seen by them as a long-term task.

– If we raise the competence of not only customers, but also participants in the construction process, then the success of the project will increase. In the long term, we must raise the level of competence of civil servants and government agencies. However, this will be a long-term task for 2-3 years, because they need to be trained, certified, properly instructed in project management. Within a short-term task, we propose to transfer part of the customer's functions to the market - there are such professional project management companies.

In order to raise the status of Project Management companies, it is proposed to develop a new Code of Practice or amend the existing orders of the Ministry of National Economy. Industry managers also proposed to develop a calculation methodology based on man per hour costs with the introduction of "a separate component to pay for these services for the implementation of these projects." The calculation of the cost of Project Management services based on man per hour multiplied by the hourly rate was cited as an example by Altuk Karagoz, Director of Hill International. In his opinion, this calculation method will reduce the cost of project management services, and it could be used as the basis for the implementation of budget investment projects.

According to the member of the "Construction" team Ulybek Kimanov, in case of making the appropriate changes to the regulatory legal acts and regulatory and technical documentation and support from the Prime Minister, the Project Management practice can be implemented within a year. The presentation of measures to improve the efficiency of planning and designing the BIP to the head of the Cabinet will take place in December.

Experts from associations of builders, developers and designers supported the package of measures proposed by industry managers. The introduction of the project management practice in budget investment projects also fits into the mainstream of the President's initiative to reduce the state apparatus, as it will relieve government bodies in terms of hiring specialists for their implementation.

The program "Training of sectoral managers in change management for the implementation of institutional reforms and the 100 Step Nation Plan" was initiated by the Nursultan Nazarbayev Foundation. As part of this project, 200 industry experts are working on solving problems in 11 sectors of the economy in order to develop proposals for transformation.