Construction
skills shortage threatens
Rudd’s infrastructure program
The Australian Institute of Building
— 24 April 2008
The lack of project managers and construction directors threatens
the delivery of the Rudd Government’s planned infrastructure
program according to the Australian
Institute of Building (AIB). The Institute’s Chief Executive,
Troy Williams, said that with the construction industry at near
capacity, the ability to deliver the government’s planned
infrastructure on-time and on-budget will be hampered by the lack
of building professionals.
“The building and
construction industry is at near capacity and there is a shortage
of professional builders. This threatens the ability of the construction
industry to deliver large infrastructure over the short to medium
term.” said Mr Williams.
As a solution to the
problem, AIB has proposed a significant increase in the number of
undergraduate positions for students undertaking building and construction
management courses at university.
“AIB has written
to the Education Minister, Julia Gillard, advising that a medium-term
solution can be found in increasing the number of students studying
building and construction management. Ideally the funding can be
provide in this year’s budget,” Mr Williams said.
Research undertaken by
AIB in 2007 determined that there were some 2,581 undergraduate
students studying building and construction management on a full
and part-time basis, with an annual intake of approximately 600
each year. In the short-term, AIB recommends providing funding in
this year’s budget to increase the number of places to 900
per year.
“We can import
project managers and other professionals as a short-term solution,
however over the medium to longer term we need to increase the supply
of professionals from within Australia. Increasing university funding
for building and construction management undergraduate places achieves
this outcome,” Mr Williams said.
Ends.
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