Engineering needs

Jun 12, 2009 Editorial

The protracted communications in the press taking issue with the premises of official initiatives to bring some long-term relief to our endemic flooding pattern on the East Coast of Demerara underscores the paucity of engineering resources available for national development. The new Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) is an exciting initiative that holds great promise to position us on a sustainable growth trajectory, but that same deficiency will have to be addressed if we are to reap the full benefits of the strategy.
One of the drawbacks with the LCDS, as with all of these foreign-funded programmes, will be the incredible percentage of the “funding” that will end up in the pockets of foreign “consultants” of one stripe or another. For example, with the LCDS’s “internationally acceptable” monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) component integrally built into the programme, the need for specialists will be exacerbated – and so will be leakage from the funding. Then, of course, there are the specific projects such as new roads, hydroelectric power generation, IT, ethanol plants etc in the development component of the strategy that will demand the widest range of engineering skills. We literally cannot afford to depend totally on foreign experts.
The LCDS envisages training of some MRV personnel as part of the preliminary preparatory work for the programme but we believe that the administration must locate such training within a broader and more comprehensive initiative to boost our human resource capabilities in the fields covered by the omnibus term “engineering” in the modern world. Recent advancements have re-defined the branches of engineering, which now cover all spheres of life and every aspect of society.
In short, an engineer skilfully and optimally manages the resources of human, finance, materials, machines and energy into completed processes, and is also responsible for management planning and business development. Likewise, professional work is no more limited to its design, analysis and/or construction or development of a product. The engineer employs knowledge, expertise and experience to evaluating and solving problems of national economic planning, given the opportunity and resources. We definitely need more engineers in Guyana.
While there have been technical institutes established in all three counties, it should be obvious from the above explication that they cannot satisfy the needs of the hour. UG has a higher level programme, but that also is definitely is not delivering engineers that match our demands in the present (and certainly not for the future) in quantitative as well as in qualitative terms. There is a need therefore to address the issues of quality engineering education seriously by our policymakers. A while back, the crippling lack of medical professionals in our health services sector was identified but, as we pointed out in this space not too long ago, the UG Medical School rose to the challenge. While we are not out of the woods by far, at least we have reached a stage in producing medical doctors that we can breathe somewhat easier. This perspective and achievement have to be replicated in the field of engineering.
Ideally, this can be pursued through the combined efforts of the government policymakers, educational institutions and employers, primarily from industry. GuySuCo, for instance, has long maintained an apprenticeship training institute to satisfy its requirements for craftsmen.
This perspective has to be taken a step higher: oil, hydro-electricity, forestry, bio-fuels etc. investors can be persuaded to fund a credible engineering tertiary institution. They, after all, will be the ultimate beneficiaries.
At the same time it is proposed the government establish another organisation, exclusively for extending support to the engineers for continuing their engineering education and creating an effective industry-university linkage. This will provide a forum to the engineers for expanding knowledge and skills in respective disciplines, assimilation of new technologies and advancement of careers, through exchange of ideas and viewpoints with the government, educational institutions, industry and media. Let us engineer our own future.

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