Construction sector in Nepal is full of opportunities: Tara Bahadur Kuwar

Kathmandu, May 27, 2016: Tara Bahadur Kuwar, an established construction entrepreneur in Nepal and the Managing Director of Diptara Construction Private Limited, Kathmandu, sharing his journey of entrepreneurship to a mass of passionate and cheerful youths gathered in a programme organized in Kathmandu, said that the scope of the sector is growing in the nation and asked more youths to join the industry.

Originally from Chauvas VDC in Kavrepalanchok District, a society where those who had enough to eat whole year round were considered as riches, Kuwar had entered Kathmandu in the year 2032 BS.

He started business very humbly. Starting as a construction worker in the year 2038, he went on to become a rickshaw puller and later started his own tailor shop making different garment items. Soon he switched his work to start a driving career in 2045 BS. He then owned his own taxi in the year 2046, and later, he owned mini trucks, tippers and all Nepal transportation trucks as a construction material supplier.

Then he started his construction business from BS 2060 and started business of hiring heavy construction equipments from BS 2063.

Later, Mr. Kuwar started his own company Hajurlai Namaste Trading. This company is the authorized distributor of GP Lubricants from Malaysia in Nepal. It is also the sole authorized distributor of ITR Brands from Italy dealing in heavy equipment parts and tyres.

He is also the Board Member of federation of contractors association Nepal (FCAN), President of Federation of heavy equipment Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal.

He says that going abroad has been a fashion these days making a shortage of skilled labour in the nation. “The labour crisis is one of the major contributors for the price inflation in Nepal,” he said.

“In earlier times, there were extremely few jobs and you had to know the whole industry and the people involved to get hired at a job. These days, it’s extremely hard to get a skilled human resource for an industry,” he said, explaining how the scenario has changed over time in the industry. “These days, bulldozer and other heavy equipment operators are garlanded with money when they go for roadways and construction work in villages. It has now been a respectable job giving you handsome earning.”

Though he stopped schooling just after completing grade 6, he feels it proud to see his children completing MBBS, CA, MBA, BBA and A-Level courses.

Answering to an audience question on why hooliganism is rife in the industry, making it villainous these days, he said the unhealthy competition between the owners has greatly contributed to this scenario. “The owners of some of the construction companies sometimes forget the basic ethics of business and fail to see other companies around and want to take everything for themselves. This has become a huge problem for this sector.”

He said that the quality of work on government projects are worst of all. “There is environment to bid at very low amount for any government tender since you need not to maintain quality of the work, especially blacktopping of roads,” said he. “You can prepare all the bills for these works even without working on the projects. Officials are always available for the paper works. And, still you can make 10% profit and will even be able to give commission to the officers. This culture is costing the industry.”

In a reply to an audience question, civil engineer to be precise, on what he needs to do to be a reputed construction professional in just a ten year duration, Kuwar replied that he needs to start interning at a big construction company for a year to learn about the industry environment and know how such businesses work. “You get to learn practical stuffs there. After a year, you can register a small construction company (C or D-class), on your own. You just need to have the energy and passion to work hard afterwards, and you will see a queue of people seeking your services. As you increase your turnover, you increase your rank. And, within 10 years of duration, you will be among the top persona in the sector.”

Also presented in the programme was the history of heavy equipment and construction in the world and in Nepal by Facts Research and Analysis, an organization in Kathmandu dealing with data and infographics. It shared the history and present situation of heavy equipments and machineries in the world and that in Nepal. As per the study by the organization, there are 5000 heavy equipments in Nepal employing around 25,000 people and contributing 720 crores annually to the national economy.

Organized by Biruwa Ventures and held on the last Thursday of every month, the programme seeks to provide a learning platform to the budding entrepreneurs along with experience sharing and networking platform for the rising and established ones.

By Basanta Kumar Dhakal