‘Freelance expatriates’ play critical role in expediting mega infrastructure projects: IIT Madras

NEW DELHI: A study conducted by the Indian institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras) has found that the freelance expatriates hired by the Public Sector clients of the country play a pivotal role in executing ‘first of their kind’; infrastructure projects, such as construction of highways, urban rail systems and airports.

Professors at IIT Madras said that developing nations of the world are rushing to catch up with the modern world and India is also faring well on this front. They added that ambitious projects for the construction of highways, urban rail systems and airports are rampant in the country. The key finding of the paper was that the freelance expatriates played a prominent role in resolving conflicts incurred during the execution of mega projects.

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The paper, thus shed light on the measures to be taken to manage the mega projects effectively. Professor at the Department of Civil engineering at IIT Madras, Ashwin Mahalingam, analysed the empirical data from two metro rail mega projects in India, that were a part of Delhi metro, and conceptualized impasses as arising due to contradictions in institutionalised logics related to work practices exercised by various organisations.

Towards the end of the study, such an inference was drawn that contradictory logics in carrying out work can lead to horizontal or process-based institutional voids and vertical or hierarchy-based institutional voids, which must be duly navigated to ensure the progress of the project.

Professor Mahalingam said after conducting the study that expatriates are often hired for their technical skills. They have found to be resolving conflicts efficiently using three sets of coping strategies, which are re-architecting transaction spaces, reinforcing hierarchy and mediation.