Readers may please recall in our last article, we made a brief account of Mangala project- Rajasthan, India and how the field compares well with our own Albertine fields. Oilfield development requires detailed planning and execution. Large number of skilled craftsmen, engineers, small, medium and large businesses and ancillary units.
The welders,for instance, should have international accreditation. Similarly, other craftsmen like fabricators etc, have to meet the global international standards in competency. Needless to point out that these jobs will be high paying and will improve the standard of living of participating employees & their families. Let us be candid...
If Ugandans are not qualified and do not meet the international company standards, unfortunately, Ugandans can forget jobs in Oil & Gas sector. Development of oilfields will take place, international companies, highly experienced in execution of such projects, will have no other alternative than to import labour to accomplish their assignments and safeguard their investments, not forgetting the extremely tight deadlines that need to be met with first oil expected towards the end of 2020.
It’s important to note that with the current development of the newly discovered fields, further exploration and appraisal activities will continue to be carried out for a number of years creating thousands of jobs and business prospects for Ugandans however the danger is that If action is not taken now, Ugandans will be mere spectators of major wealth creation right at their door- steps…
One of the proposed ways forward, is to benchmark against the Mangala Project, there is no need to reinvent the wheel....we can replicate the Mangala model here in Uganda.
The Operating Company contributed funds from their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budget. In addition to this, the local government had set aside a significant sum to top up this CSR budget. With this, a full-fledged Centre of Excellence was established. During the development stage of the centre, a project management consultant was appointed to oversee the design, procurement and construction activities of the centre.
Once the centre was constructed and ready to operate, The Operator identified a competent service provider to conduct training and incubation programs from the centre. A similar strategy can be adopted in Ugandan. Funds can be mobilized, in whatever way possible and construction of Centre of Excellence started by appointing independent project consultant, an independent contractor and finally an independent training company to run the programs. But, this could take a number of years. Nevertheless, this may be started as soon as possible.With first oil at 2020, there is no luxury of time.
We can start training activities in existing training institutes and schools and universities like UPIK. Conexus, through it’s established partnerships are looking at bring in ‘trainers of trainers’ and equipment and course materials to build capacity to undertake training programs to international codes of practice. Welders will get internationally accredited certificates.
There should be recognition of prior skills. Craftsmen, already working in other industries we can upgrade their skills to international oil& Gas standards. This is recommended to be run on commercial basis with total funding from government and other international funding agencies for the initial batches and in subsequent years, prospective trainees may be asked to pay part of their tuition fees. Start with a course like welding and expand to others like drivers, machinists, electricians, etc To be concluded in Part 3......