With approvals in place for around 500 special economic zones (SEZs), the big challenge now is to actually build these huge projects?in time, and within budget. But it turns out that corporate India just does not have the expertise to handle developments on this scale. An SEZ would include everything from apartment buildings, roads, sewage lines, water treatment plants, electricity distribution companies and even full-scale airports. Indeed, the task at hand is to build entire stand-alone cities?and build them to world-class standards.
There are only two ways to solve the manpower shortage facing SEZ developers: hire people from the government and public sector undertakings (the only ones who have experience in developments of this size), or get talent from abroad. Corporate India is doing both. Says a senior Mumbai-based headhunter: ?For our SEZ CEO mandate, We are talking Rs 1-1.5 crore in compensation packages for government servants with relevant experience in urban planning, ports and infrastructure.?
However, the clause that government servants are required by law to have a two-year cooling off period between leaving the government and joining a private firm could be a sticking point when these people are hired.
Delhi-based DLF, which has an SEZ, has already hired the former commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi SP Aggarwal. DLF is also reportedly looking at setting up a civil aviation project management group entirely made up of expats. Reliance Industries Ltd?which has experience of setting up large projects like the Jamnagar facility?is similarly poised to hire top people both from government as well as abroad who can hit the ground running. The company is concentrating on township builders from Dubai as well as a select list of civil servants with relevant experience that the top HR team has reportedly shortlisted.
Those likely to see a loss of senior staff as SEZ developers pluck them from their swivel chairs are PSUs like Hudco, municipal corporations, Indian Railways as well as the Delhi metro, which is looked upon by the private sector as a modern, world-class Indian project execution firm.