BANGKOK (ILO News) – Participants at a seminar jointly organized by the Ministry of Interior and the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s ASIST-AP¹ program this week presented collaborative research material aimed at helping Tambol Administrative Organizations (TAOs) to implement infrastructure projects more efficiently.

The collaborative studies, carried out by the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning (DPT), the Department of Local Administrative Promotion (DLAP), and the ILO’s ASIST-AP program, showed that infrastructure development could be enhanced by adopting a simplified, step-by-step planning tool, which would clarify existing rules and regulations, as well as through the inclusion of small-scale contractors during the implementation.

Participants agreed on the setting up of a working group, headed by DPT representatives and including people from various local educational institutions, to develop appropriate construction standards, guidelines and manuals specifically focussed on small-scale construction projects at a local level. Further, it was agreed to develop and run a series of training programs aimed at management of small-scale construction and local level planning to upgrade the technical capabilities of local authority and contractor personnel.

A lack of such materials on construction standards, as well as a shortfall in related management skills among local authority personnel and contractors are seen as major obstacles in the successful implementation of infrastructure projects, participants agreed.

Over the longer term, the training program would be developed until it became a certified course at a national level, which all construction staff would be expected to pass before being eligible to supervise small-scale construction projects.

Infrastructure planning must go hand in hand with land use planning, and requires a level of expertise that may not be currently available within local communities, participants agreed. Further studies would therefore be required to clarify the roles played by central government and local authorities, they added.

The seminar, held at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), came about as a result of an ongoing collaboration between ILO’s ASIST-AP program and the Ministry of Interior.

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¹ASIST-AP – Advisory Support, Information Services and Training in   the Asia-Pacific Region