Pir Mehr Ali Shah

Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi

ECONOMIC ISSUES OF PAKISTAN
BS COMMERCE (EVENING)

“PROJECT”
TOPIC : “Construction and Building Company”

GROUP MEMBERS:

 HAMZA KALEEM AKHTAR

(20-ARID-1617)
 TAHA REYYAN KHAN
(20-ARID-1646)
 ZOHAIB AHMED ABBASI
(20-ARID-1649)
 SHAIKH MUNEEB AHMED
(20-ARID-1641)
 Astral Constructors (Pvt) Ltd

Astral Constructors (Pvt) Ltd (formerly Kestral SPD (Pvt) Ltd;

same company, new name) started business in 2004 leveraging
from the need to provide structured turnkey design & build
services being sought by clients in the country and very little
expertise around to do it. In fact, the acronym SPD was coined
to cover that domain: Structured Program Delivery.

 Design & Build and Engineering Services

Astral’s two divisions of Design & Build and Engineering
Services are ideally positioned to work on any assignment in
Pakistan and selected parts of the Middle East and Africa. Our
client base includes many foreign multinationals and
governments.
For example, we have successfully completed 18 projects in
Pakistan funded and managed by various US Government
agencies, including 3 with the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), most of them complete design and build!
Furthermore, many of our projects are on secure
government/military bases and facilities where a project is not
just about construction but all the other elements of successful
execution such as site administration, security of man and
machine, full logging and reporting, detailed planning of all
aspects of the project, etc. Almost all of the projects involving
 highly discerning clients are required to be completed on fast-
track basis.

 Establishment
In a very short period, Astral established itself as the company
of choice for such services and the company grew rapidly and
established a strong name in the market synonymous with
Integrity, Quality, Timeliness and Value. These 4 attributes
distinguish.
Astral Constructors from others in the region. Our approach was
modeled around the best-in-class companies of global repute
with processes clearly defined, training programs, project and
office organization structured using the required skills and a
semi-matrix management structure enabling quality and
maximization of output from the company’s human resources.
Astral prides itself as probably the only company in Pakistan
which values its human resource at the top of its functional
hierarchy.

 Health & Safety

Providing a safe environment for work and proper training to
ensure compliance is a hallmark of our operation. We have
broken the myth that providing for health and safety of workers
is costly; its cheaper in the end! We have several projects
successfully completed with certified over one-million
manhours without lost time injuries!
  Methodological Approach To Construction
Our trained people, established processes and methodological
approach to construction renders us as the company of choice
for our clients since the default in this region does not conform
to international standards of methodology, quality and HSE.
For example, on the two USACE projects Astral performed in
2006-2008, there were no lost time injuries (LTIs).
On another large project, Astral was awarded by KBR (an IDIQ
contractor to which Astral was the prime sub) a merit certificate
for completion of 1M man hours without any lost time injury!

 Experienced Design Team

Astral performs all its construction activities with its own people
(manual labor is, of course, hired from the market depending on
the region) and only subcontracts the design work.
We work with our design partners like team members to ensure
proper design coordination before a segment goes into
construction.
Our past experience suggests that issues/problems at the design
stage are the predominant drivers for schedule delays and cost
escalations.
A strong, experienced design team is critical to the timely
completion of civil projects. In spite of this strength in the
design subcontracting, we maintain a design support team which
 is responsible for coordination and compliance audit of all
design produced by the design subcontractors.
This design coordination function is critical for smooth
execution of the project especially since the designers generally
are not a single integrated company and are not very well
equipped beyond their individual design disciplines.

 Vendor Relations
Astral has a vast database of material and equipment suppliers in
Pakistan and abroad with whom we have excellent relationship
of mutual respect. We get first preference on deliveries of all
kinds of construction material during project execution enabling
a near-JIT approach to construction services.

 Our Values
Providing high-quality construction services of optimum value
with high integrity while maintaining high health & safety
standards and with full respect for the environment. These core
values are embedded in all our processes and in every Astral
employee!

 Certification
Astral is ISO 9001:2015 certified, ISO 14001:2015 certified, and
OHSAS 18001:2007 certified for the quality management,
environmental management, and occupational health and safety
 management systems, respectively, in all its construction &
engineering services activities.

 Success Through Teamwork

Since its creation as a company in a highly-competitive
construction market of Pakistan, Astral’s business model has
been to focus on the principle of collective, people-driven
responsibility and achievement. Based on this model, our
organic growth has developed Astral into a company with a
rather unconventional process-driven and structured employee-
friendly corporate culture.

 Featured Projects
The Featured Projects selected here demonstrate the diversity of
the projects Astral performs. No project is complex for us in the
engineering, time or price domains. This is possible thanks to
our strong emphasis on people and processes; our dominant
critical success factors.

 Individual And Corporate Growth

Individual ability, regardless of age, sex, family background,
ethnicity, etc, is the driver of individual and corporate growth.
Employees and management interact with each other on that
basis as a team at the corporate level and on individual projects.
 Principles of self-discipline rather than mistrust and policing
dominate our company culture. Systems provide the definition,
guideline and standards, but we understand that in execution,
quality comes from within the individual.

 Customer Prioritization
Externally, each of us is fully cognizant that they are the face of
the company. Our customer is always priority 1. We understand
that our customer is not in the construction business but timely
completion of his project can represent a make-or-break
situation for his business.
We do our best to advise our
Construction guarantees a snappy return on any investments
made. In the same vein, construction provides skilled and
unskilled employment. If the government makes job creation
and infrastructure a priority, the industry is well placed to regain
its sure footing.
The United States’ construction industry is one of the most
extensive in the world. According to statistics, the industry spent
up to 977 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 and employed about 11.2
million people.
 CONCLUSION
We can conclude that there is difference between the theoretical
and practical work done. As the scope of understanding will be
much more when practical work is done. As we get more
knowledge in such a situation where we have great experience
doing the practical work. Knowing the loads we have designed
the slabs depending upon the ratio of longer to shorter span of
panel. In this project we have designed slabs as two way slabs
depending upon the end condition, corresponding bending
moment. The coefficients have been calculated as per I.S. code
methods for corresponding lx/ly ratio. The calculations have
been done for loads on beams and columns and designed frame
analysis by moment distribution method. Here we have a very
low bearing capacity, hard soil and isolated footing done.
Research questions:

Q : 1 What are the 4 Ways through which the Construction

Industry Can Lead the Economic?

1. Securing Maintenance Projects and Investments

It is highly beneficial for the government to focus investments
on maintenance-based projects and backlogs. This is because
construction firms can take advantage of the movement
restrictions to carry out repairs with speed and ease.
Maintenance projects are best embarked on because when there
is need for approval, they are approved faster than constructing
projects. This allows for faster procurement of funds and hastens
the reward to communities and businesses in the area.
For small or medium-sized construction companies, these sort of
projects are an advantage because the government frequently
turns to international contractors for larger-scale projects.

2. Adoption of Labor-Based Construction Methods

One of the major problems in a failing economy is a rise in
unemployment and the resultant poverty. In the industrial age of
today, many companies are embracing technology such as
project cost management software and the ease of production
that comes with it.
However, construction is one of the few industries where
everything can still be put together with labor.
In the construction industry, over 50% of available labor
requirements for large projects are relegated to technology. In
areas where there is low wage or a high rate of unemployment, it
is advised that construction companies adopt methods of
building or repair that are more labor-based.
This would provide employment opportunities for more people
throughout the duration of the project and reduce the rate of
unemployment.

3. Balancing the Scales During Large Projects

Construction projects bring with them a healthy amount of
economic ‘ripple effects.’ When working on large construction
projects, it is healthy to keep local businesses and workforces
engaged. This can be facilitated by balancing the large projects
with smaller investments.
Two ways a construction project can directly impact local
businesses are hiring local workers to join the labor team and
obtaining raw materials from local sources. This provides more
income for the employed businesses to pass on to others around
the area.
Long-term workers at a construction site often have need for
various amenities like food, temporary housing and laundry
services. The local businesses in an area can cater to these
needs, from local restaurants to coffee shops, lodges and gas
stations. This way, construction projects would contribute
indirectly to economic recovery in that community.

4. Promoting Green Infrastructure

Investments in green infrastructure will play a very important
role in achieving economic recovery post-COVID-19.
The importance of eco-friendly communities and lifestyles
cannot be undermined. Construction firms can aid recovery of a
threatened economy by embracing green infrastructure. One way
to do this is the use of renewable energy sources like solar
panels in households and commercial buildings.
For this to succeed, there must be an adoption of eco-friendly
projects on the national level, influencing the transport sector
towards adopting electrified systems of transportation and
promoting the restoration of the ecosystem.
 Q : 2 Environmental Effect of cement on construction and
building companies?

There are countless companies and organizations who have

designed specific solutions to improve the concrete industry’s
environmental impact. Many of the top grossing cement
companies in the world have decided to take immediate action.
As the largest concrete company globally, Lafargeholcim has
participated in respectable efforts in erasing their environmental
footprint.
The company has lowered carbon emissions by 25% since 1990
and has a goal to reach net-zero emissions soon. The CEO of the
company states “I will not stop pushing the boundaries on our
net zero journey with rigorous science-based targets.
At LafargeHolcim we are accelerating circular and low-carbon
solutions to lead the way in green construction.” China National
Building Materials ($1.4 billion deal with British Solar
Renewables) and Cemex (35% carbon reduction goal by 2030)
have followed LahargeHolcim’s path in improving their
footprint.
The concrete industry struggles with a large carbon footprint but
there are many solutions. The only struggle is depending on the
consumers to choose the groups who put our climate as a
priority. Information and listed solutions need to be put in the
spotlight in order to improve and create a cleaner world.
Q : 3 Impact of labors strike on construction and building
companies
The vast majority of construction contracts contain provisions
for timely project completion, strikes can cause owners,
contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers to miss contractual
milestones or finish dates.
Not only do construction strikes cause inconveniences to all
parties, but strikes can also lead to more serious problems such
as the assessment of liquidated damages and contract disputes.
Generally, strikes only entitle contractors to a time extension
unless the strike is precipitated by the owner. If a strike was
caused by the owner, then the contractor may have entitlement
to a time extension as well as time-related damages.
United States federal courts generally recognize three different
scenarios for strikes. A strike can be considered an excusable
delay, a compensable delay, or an inexcusable
(non-compensable) delay to the contractor.
Battles for labor rights continued, and, as industrialization
expanded the number of factories and altered the skills required
by the workers, more conflicts arose.
Workers organized and developed a trade union system and
political groups to protect their interests and promote their
political goals. Initially, these unions formed according to trade
and skill because many workers felt skilled labor was held in
higher respect in society.
 Unskilled workers also organized themselves, and they
subscribed to much the same ideology that skilled workers did.
Both skilled and unskilled workers viewed their labor as
essential to social growth, economic expansion, and economic
productivity. However, businesspeople and company owners
frequently resisted the growth of labor organizations.
Business owners largely felt that they should be able to pay their
workers whatever wage they deemed appropriate.
The fact that a strike occurred does not in itself entitle a
contractor to an excusable delay. The contractor must prove that
the strike caused a delay. Under federal contracts, the governing
test of a strike is to determine whether the strike was
unforeseeable, beyond the control, and without the fault or
negligence of the contractor, subcontractor, or supplier.
For example, if an owner or contractor caused an unfair labor
practice which resulted in a strike, then the strike cannot be
considered an excusable delay since unfair labor practices are
not beyond control of the parties.
In order to establish a strike as entitlement to excusable delay,
the contractor must demonstrate cause and effect and present
documented evidence.
Additionally, the contractor must prove it acted reasonably by
not unlawfully provoking or prolonging the strike, and it must
take steps to mitigate the effects.
Q : 4 What Role Can the Government Play in the Economic
Recovery?
While businesses in the private sector may display a reluctance
to invest during uncertain economic times, the government can
affect an increase in infrastructure projects. For example,
building projects or maintenance.

When the government embarks on such investments, it

stimulates demand for materials and services related to
construction. It will also cause a marked rise in job availability
due to the number of people the industry employs, which is
about 7.6% of workers around the globe.

The government should explore options available for hastening

the approval process for certain infrastructural and construction
projects. For the economic recovery phase to begin, work has to
first begin, so this action would aid the availability of work post-
pandemic and encourage investors or developers to pitch their
tents with the industry.

To unlock the potential of the construction industry towards

economic recovery, this and other sustainable policies are
required.
Client about issues identified by our people during construction,
whether it is due to causes outside of our scope or due to
weaknesses in our implementation, as if the client is part of the
team. Client satisfaction is the essence of our business

IMPACT OF CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING

COMPANIE ON ECONOMY

The construction industry doesn’t just erect structures that

encourage increased productivity and improve the standard of
living, it contributes greatly to the country’s economy through
the following ways:
•Provision of employment opportunities and training.
•Creating opportunity for investing and profit making.
•Support of businesses that cater to health and safety.
•Affecting large-scale economic change due to its size.
• Private finance initiative.
• Promoting improved transportation systems.
• Providing income for small businesses that provide related
goods or services.

It is known to also factor significantly in the growth and

recovery of economies. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the
 industry, at full-mast, it employs a healthy percentage of the
country’s workforce.
While the industry continues to cater to people financially and
help bring stability to an already treacherously poised economy,
a broader consideration of the economic situation shows that as
a sector, the industry is still taking a significant beating.
Unemployment rates in the industry tripled in the months
following the advent of the pandemic, causing unemployment
among an estimated 1 million construction workers, according
to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In April, a month after the
first global lockdowns were put in place, Canada lost 314,000
construction jobs, or about 21.1 percent of the industry’s
workforce.