Exclusive Interview with Engr Syed Zafar Abbas Zaidi, Engr. Farhan Zafar and Engr. Syed Mubashser Ali Haider from Global Hi-Tech Engineering Consultants (Pvt.) Ltd
Global High tech Engineering is a consultancy service in Pakistan founded by Engr Syed Zafar Abbas Zaidi Engr. Farhan Zafar and Engr. Syed Mubashser Ali Haider. All three engineers had experience working in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia before starting their own company here in Pakistan.
Engineering Post had an exclusive interview with the top management of the company to understand their journey and how it became what it is now. Global Hi-Tech Engineering has three main divisions dealing with different aspects of the work. The Power Sector headed by Engr Mubasher Haider looks into the substation, transmission projects and other projects related to power. Then there is the Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing (MEP) section which is concerned with MEP projects for industrial and commercial buildings including firefighting & HVAC systems. The third division deals with in the Oil and Gas sector as relevant engineering works.
Global Hi-Tech Engineering was founded by the three partners in 2017. Engr Farhan Zafar director Engineering division said “We felt like we were not being given enough room to work at our jobs to work the way we liked so we resigned and started our own company,” he said.
Engr. Syed Zafar Abbas Zaidi, CEO, Global Hi- Tech Engineering has worked for prestigious organisations all over the world including Descon and Wood group and has experience of working in local and international environments. He has worked on many different projects. During the conversation he reminisced that if we can provide international projects experiences to local engineers, Pakistani engineers have all the capabilities to compete with engineers from any part of the world. He quoted that while working at Descon back in 2000-2009, engineering design team had worked with JGC Japan and provided complete design for a Russian Oil Refinery, developed the 3D Model and presented the same in front of Russian / Japanese management in Japan. So there is no doubt about the capability and talent of the engineers in Pakistan, only thing lacking is the proper exposure for these engineers.
While talking to Engineering Post he explained “For the past few years the regulatory authorities have started giving importance to MEP consultancy and Fire fighting in the new buildings being constructed. Before that the architect was asked to complete these tasks with the minimum costs possible as there was no regulatory check from the government. Understandably the owners did not want to pay for the MEP design as it had no value. But now it has be become a mandatory part of the papers being submitted to development authorities,” he said. The instances of fires in different malls during the past few years and the losses incurred has forced the government to actively pursue the availability of proper fire fighting equipment as well as fire exits in all new buildings being built.
To make the process even more seamless Global Hi-Tech engineering has started getting into Joint ventures with architects for their consultancy projects.
Engr. Syed Mubasher Ali, during the conversation explained how the slow industrial development has hampered the growth of local workforce “The people in power sector are well versed in clerical work but as no power stations or transmission line were built in the country in the past 30 or so years, the technical expertise of the people were rusty to say the least. They have lost touch with the world which is evident in the work being executed in the country. Laws and codes are there but there is no implementation,” he said. There is also a severe lack of software based knowledge as we stick to the archaic methods of book keeping. This under experience has affected the ability of Pakistani companies to secure international contracts regardless of immense talent being present here. “The Saudis prefer Indians over Pakistanis because of these gaps. We want to change that as a company. We are working with Saudi Electric Company for transmission lines / substation’s projects and hope to increase international remittance by securing more global projects.
Global Hi-Tech Engineering had a humble beginning as it started with a staff of only 5 people but now has grown to more than 20 with a pool of engineers available of all expertise Engr. Farhan Zafar explained. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made remote engineering acceptable which makes our work easier. Our pool of engineers has made it easier for us to complete tasks even if the concerned engineer is not even in the country,” he said. “It has been our experience that if the technical expertise are available, there would be no difficulty in getting work as people want proper results for the money that they are paying” he added.
Global Hi-Tech Engineering has started changing the perception of the world regarding companies working out of Pakistan by executing providing high quality projects at reasonable prices. Any company which had the back office in India would eventually win the bid for Saudi projects as they were cheap and were able to successfully complete the projects as well. They were able to complete this cost cutting by keeping their engineers in India. This is how Global Hi-Tech wants to operate as well. As explained by Engr Farhan Zafar “We realised that by keeping a home office in Pakistan we can quote reduced costs for the projects and provide competition to the Indian firms. It worked and currently India’s largest EPC firm has hired us based on our expertise and cost effectiveness. This surprises the Indians as well,” he added.
Global Hi-Tech Engineering has worked on a number of high scale projects in different sectors all across the country and internationaly most of them are in execution phase right now . Grand projects in healthcare include Nishtar Hospital Multan, Dg khan cardiac hospital, Mianwali child and mother care hospital, University of Lahore hospital, Faisal hospital Faisalabad, Fauji foundation hospital Islamabad along with many other small scale hospitals. Local commercial sector projects include Complete MEP of Mall of B17, 37 D Appartments Gulberg, Burj Ismail, Multistorey Apartment complex in Murree spanning an area of more than 400,000 sq ft , HVAC Revamping of Gift University etc Global Hitech have also been providing Consultancy in Industrial sector and have worked with ICI, Nishat, Fauji Foods,US Dynamo etc. GLOBAL Hitech also have major renowned foreign clients like Saudi Aramco and Saudi Electric Company with whom they have been doing numerous projects till date.
During the exclusive interview with Engineering Post, CEO Global Hi-Tech Engineering Syed Zafar Abbas expressed the desire that the company wants to work on power projects in the country as well. “We want to work on projects with NTDC and DISCOS. We have international exposure and can provide our expertise at cost effective rates to the government.”
