Skilled Workforce: Indonesia has shortage of engineers
Tenaga Ahli :Indonesia Defisit Insinyur
Bisnis Indonesia, 26 April, 2017
By Yanita Petriella
JAKARTA - National Association of Indonesian Consultants (Inkindo) has stated that Indonesia is experiencing a shortage of engineers, whilst infrastructure development has continued to increase.
Chairman of the National Board of Inkindo, Nugroho Pudji Rahardjo, said that current infrastructure development has not been matched by an increase in the supply of relevant skilled workers.
"Currently, Indonesia is in a state of engineer-deficit because the supply of engineers for consultants is still low compared to the requirement," he said on the sidelines of the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Tarumanagara University, Tuesday (25 April).
In general, the ratio of the number of engineers in Indonesia per one million inhabitants is only 2,671 people, and this is the lowest compared to some other countries, such as Malaysia’s 3,333, China’s 3,380, Thailand’s 4,121, Vietnam’s 9,037 and Brazil’s 3,053.
He gave an example that the development program to build 65 dams until 2019, which consists of 49 new dams and 16 follow-on dam works, requires many engineers.
"To build 49 dams, some 1,000 certified experts are needed. Currently, only 400 certified dam experts are available. This is just the dam program; other development programs are not yet covered," he said.
According to Nugroho, the low interest to be an engineer is also due to the low consultant billing rate.
Inkindo regularly publishes reasonable minimum billing rate standards. Currently, the billing rates issued by Inkindo have been referred by government agencies and state-owned enterprises (BUMNs) and these have been set out in Law No. 2/2017 on Construction Services.
The billing rate is an indicator determining the formation of self-estimated prices that are used as a tool to assess the fairness of the offer price of construction services, inclusive its details.
The currently applicable national billing rate is on average Rp 8 million/person/month, while overseas the direct cost of consultancy services is more than Rp 30 million/person/month.
Of this amount, the fee received by the consultant is only 40 percent, with the rest being used for the company's operational costs.
According to Nugroho, to increase the number of engineers in Indonesia, the role of tertiary education institutions is called for as a supplier of experts.
"A Triple Helix cooperation between the government, universities, and related industries is required," he said.
This is necessary to enhance the competitiveness of national consultants, so as to be able to be a host in their own country, especially in the face of ASEAN Economic Community competition.
"Some 63 percent of the construction market in the Asean region is in Indonesia, with the Philippines accounting for 10 percent, Malaysia eight percent, Thailand six percent, Vietnam six percent and Singapore seven percent," said Nugroho.
Memorandum of Understanding
In connection with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Untar [Tarumanegara University] and Inkindo, [the matters covered] include the provision of consultation and legal assistance by the university to Inkindo members throughout Indonesia.
Rector of Untar, Agustinus Purna Irawan, said that the activity will be conducted by the Faculty of Law of Untar.
In addition, Untar will also provide both formal and informal training and education for Inkindo members, as well as helping to establish consultant billing rates.
"This cooperation is important to build partnership with various institutions, especially those that can support the development of graduate competency, in addition to the contribution of Untar for the community," he said in the same opportunity.