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In India, project management often means receiving a large number of enquiries on a daily basis, with each project requiring a final decision to be made the following day, which puts a huge strain on project management.

However, the challenge is that each project we deliver is unique and requires the preparation of comprehensive technical proposals that include elements such as general layout plans, technical descriptions, equipment material lists, scopes of work, lists of suppliers, and guaranteed values. Projects in India are often delayed by 2 to 3 years in the early stages and Indians tend to be very detail orientated in technical discussions. Preparing documentation and conducting technical exchanges requires a lot of effort. Getting continuous support from various technical departments is also a daunting task.

Therefore, it is vital to make wise project choices, learn to drop less critical projects, and focus your efforts on the critical ones. Evaluating the client is the most critical part of the selection criteria. Over the past two decades, I have been exposed to many types of clients.

**one of them**

India's state-owned enterprises, represented by SAIL (Steel Authority of India).

SAIL, the Steel Authority of India Limited, has a number of steel companies under its umbrella, such as VSP, DSP and BSP, each with an annual production capacity of between 3 and 5 million tonnes.

These companies operate all construction projects through open tenders, which any company can bid for. My team invested a lot of manpower in bidding for ten SAIL projects in one year, but ended up winning only one small contract worth a few million dollars, resulting in a serious loss. Due to the lack of confidence in the team's ability, we have been cautious about taking on SAIL projects.

SAIL projects require EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) turnkey contracting and India prohibits the importation of unskilled labour. Prior to Prime Minister Modi's harmonisation of tax laws, India's tax system was complex and flexible in its implementation. These factors forced the foreign contractor to choose the right Indian construction team for all civil works and some installations.

However, the differences between India and China in terms of technical expertise, construction methods and requirements, and more importantly, the lack of mutual understanding and trust due to cultural differences, often lead to unsatisfactory cooperation.

For example, in one project we decided to forgo profit to penetrate the SAIL market. We offered, "Based on our experience, the value of our scope of work is $10 million, and the cost to China for the civil and installation work is also $10 million. In order to win the contract, we are proposing that our portion of the offer be $10 million, and given your risk in the civil and installation work, we have agreed to increase the factor by 20%, totalling $12 million."

The local partner responded, "We know the project owner's budget is $30 million. Since your quote is $10 million, we will quote $19.5 million."

We were furious at what we felt was a lack of goodwill on the part of our partner, and we stuck with our $15 million offer. This led to a heated argument between our marketing colleagues and the project execution team at the partner's office.

In fact, from the point of view of project execution, we invested a lot of manpower and resources in preparing the technical proposal and bill of quantities to meet the technical requirements of our partners, while they only focused on their own part of the bid. In the course of co-operation, we bear all the technical risks, and it seems unfair for them to demand high profits despite the lower workload and technical risks.

Almost all co-operation with local partners ends in mutual complaints, we find them dishonest and they find us difficult to work with.

Later, I was given the task of managing the company in India. In order to localise the operations, I had in-depth discussions with the MD (Managing Director) of a reputed Indian civil engineering and construction company to understand their concerns:

Firstly, we usually only inform them of the amount of concrete and steel required, but they are not fully aware of the difficulty of the construction, so they will consider a certain risk factor.

In addition, although the contract stated that we were responsible for design and supply and that we could complete our work within a controlled schedule, their projects were frequently delayed due to SAIL's bureaucratic inefficiencies. The local construction team had to bear the costs incurred due to the delays, which could have been partially addressed through a claim, but the outcome was uncertain.

Their arguments have merit, but the controversy lies in how to determine the length of the delay and how to define a reasonable cost of delay.

The prerequisite for undertaking a SAIL project is therefore to find a stable and reliable local civil engineering and installation partner, which we have not yet found.

I have an Indian friend who became VP of ESSAR projects after working with JSW on two coking projects. He once said, "Lau, your team lacks on-site capability. Despite hard work, the low-level team cannot cope with SAIL projects."

I asked, "What are the requirements for a site manager who can cope with a SAIL project?"

He replied, "Extensive site management experience, sharp business acumen and a strong documentation assistant.SAIL is a state-owned enterprise with strict and rigid rules and regulations. In case of project delays or changes in the scope of work, the site manager must immediately file a claim, provide accurate data on changes in quantities and present the claim in a manner and language acceptable to the owner. They must obtain the site manager's signature and submit a formal claim to the commercial department in a timely manner, providing any documentation needed for the owner's internal approval process. Bureaucracy is not about reasonableness, it is about the reasonableness of the supporting documentation."

Upon hearing this, I realised that my site team really wasn't up to such a task, which is another big reason why we've been wary of taking on SAIL projects.