Muhammad Faisal Kaleem

The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has upgraded over 300 construction firms to the next category, enabling them to qualify for larger construction projects.

According to documents available with WealthPK, the council has upgraded as many as 376 construction firms to category C-I in the last two years. The C-I falls in the best categories among the PEC set standards for companies’ registrations and upgradation.

The PEC’s governing body has already removed the requirement for firms to possess machinery and vehicles when applying for registration, renewal, or upgradation licenses.

For up-gradation of the category C-I, it is mandatory for the firms to have a contract, work awarding history for three years from the date of application and out of all projects in this period, the physical progress of the work should not be less than 60 per cent.  Moreover, the work the company is doing should have financial worth should be at least 70 per cent of the existing category limit.

Currently, there are eight types of firms with PEC, which include C-A, C-B, C-I, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5 and C-6.  The C-A firm is at the top, which has unlimited financial backing from PEC to be awarded contracts from any government department.  

The PEC is a statutory body, established under the PEC Act 1976, which was amended in December 2016. The purpose of this body was to regulate the engineering profession in the country so that it could function as a key driving tool for achieving rapid and sustainable growth in all sectors.

Other major statutory functions of the council include registering engineers, consulting engineers, and constructors/operators; accrediting engineering programmes offered by universities/institutions; managing continuing professional development; assisting the federal government as a think tank; establishing standards for engineering products and services, and safeguarding the interests of its members.

The PEC has also provided support to the government in conducting technical enquiries and recommending remedial measures on the subjects referred. According to the document, the PEC has registered and issued NOCs to 5742 firms in 2024-25. The category-wise segregation includes 33 companies of C-2 category, 104 of C-3, 426 of C-4, 449 of C-5 and 4730 of C-6 category.

Credit: INP-WealthPk