A More Vigorous Competence Game in the Making

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just inaugurated the phase 1 of Kashi Vishwanath Dham, his dream Religious Tourism project, which is being constructed with an estimated cost of Rs.339 crores. The project was announced in 2019 and its progress is already quite impressive,akin to several of the public infrastruc ture projects currently progressing in the country. From the iconic Puravnchal Expressway to the latest National Highway 334B, which is set to be completed by January 2022 ­ the months ahead of its scheduled completion date it's quite commendable the way infrastructure projects are developing in India at the moment.

This can be also interpreted as a plethora of challenges for the construction companies, as it calls for better alternatives to the conventional ideas and execution, which pushes architects and engineers to their limits. Going forward, the public sector infrastructure projects continue to be a safe bet. The Union Budget 2021 points right in this direction. The government is backing the infrastructure sector with a firm hand, earmarking Rs.233,083 crore($ 32.02 billion) to enhance the transport infrastructure alone. Also, the government expanded the `National Infrastructure Pipeline(NIP) to 7,400 projects, given that approximately 217 projects worth Rs.1.10 lakh crore ($ 15.09 billion) were completed as of 2020.

With the union government's plan to push harder, the construction companies will have to transfer the heat to architects and engineers to build new levels of core competencies. In this issue, we unfold the story of some of the best performing Structural engineers around.
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