The Sindh Works and Services Department has started a Skill Development Internship Programme (SDIP) for the unemployed fresh civil engineering graduates to prepare them for the private sector, Works and Services Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza announced on Tuesday. During a meeting, he reviewed at length the functioning of the department with special reference to the performance of the presently posted officers. Dr Mirza emphasized the need to further improve the Road Research Laboratory in Hyderabad to provide adequate training and ensure proper testing of material.
He also stressed the need to adequately train assistant engineers and sub-engineers in road research for enhancing their technical capabilities and to ensure quality of service besides proper utilisation of the available funds. It was informed during the meeting that for promoting sub-engineers to the grade of assistant engineers and assistant engineers to XENs, the clearance of departmental promotion exam should be given due consideration in order to increase their technical/administration capacity. Dr Mirza was also informed about the performance of the building sector of the Works and Services Department. The minister was informed that out of the total allocation of Rs 5.38 billion of the ADP 2011-12, Rs 550.975 million have been earmarked for construction/maintenance and repair of all government sector buildings in the province. “The Works and Services Department also takes care of the Access to Justice Programme, which is a federally funded programme, and is responsible for the uplift and renovation of the courts and other structures of the judiciary including all courts from the district to the high court level,” the Works and Services secretary told the participants of the meeting.