An India Sec5on was formally

launched at Chennai on Satur-

day, Nov. 28, 2015. The South

India Sec5on took the lead and

organized the launch event at

The Hilton, Chennai. The event

was a6ended by 70 professionals from reputed

organiza5ons like Petrofac, AMEC Foster

Wheeler, Engineers India Limited, Saipem, ABB,

Wabag, Larsen and Toubro, Professors from IIT

Madras, Anna University, Karle Infra and senior

members from Project Management Ins5tute,

Chennai Chapter.

The grand launch at The Hilton, Chennai

began with Philips Tharakan Mulackal, CCP EVP,

Vice President Interna5onal Regions at AACE,

welcoming the a6endees. The Director, Region

8, Jaimin Mehta, CCP PSP, delivered a short

speech men5oning how professionals and or-

ganiza5ons can leverage associa5on with AACE

for professional excellence and cited a few ex-

amples from his own experience.

The launch formally began with ligh5ng of

a lamp, a tradi5onal way of beginning auspicious

events in South India. Julie Owen, CCP PSP,

AACE President; Sudarshan Karle, Director of

Karle Group; Chandrashekar Rao, Founder of

Shreshreta Solu5ons; Dr. Koshy Varghese, Pro-

fessor Indian Ins5tute of Technology, Madras

(IITM); Jaimin Mehta, Director Region 8, par5c-

ipated in the lamp ligh5ng.

Chandrashekar Rao introduced the TCM

Framework and spoke on “Effec5ve use of RPs

and the TCM Framework to de-risk large capital

projects in India. He men5oned that passion

and commitment are required to adopt global

best prac5ces. Rather than quickly fixing things

in a panic, planning is needed while execu5ng

projects. He men5oned that AACE’s RPs can be

adopted by any organiza5on and customized ac-

cordingly.

Dr. Koshy Vargheese, of IITM, a premier In-

dian Ins5tute, spoke on the gaps in project con-

trols in India. He elaborated on the gaps in the

educa5on system at the under graduate and

post graduate levels. He also men5oned that the

sophis5ca5on of the latest integrated PM so%-

ware makes it difficult to work without a lot of

training and conceptual clarity. He suggested

that clients/project owners need to start de-

manding from contrac5ng agencies for be6er

project control systems. Also, the requirements

in contracts should be elaborated on, very

clearly. He cau5oned, “going up in project con-

trol maturity should be in stages and not be

done by aiming for a 100 percent at the first

stage. Many companies fail due to over expec-

ta5on by not adop5ng a step by step maturity

approach or by discon5nuing these later.” He

says IIT Madras will support AACE in all ways to

expand its ac5vi5es in India. He has assisted

AACE in developing case studies and success sto-

ries in India.

Julie Owen, CCP PSP, President of AACE In-

terna5onal, shared the strategic plan of the or-

ganiza5on, highlighted strengths and focus

areas. She spoke on membership trends and

elaborated on the knowledge resources devel-

oped by AACE. She spoke about the cer5fica-

5ons offered, their benefits and the results of

the salary survey. She also engaged in discus-

sion with the par5cipants and answered queries.

Sivakumar, VP Outreach of Chennai PMI

Chapter, thanked AACE for choosing Chennai for

the launch.

SPOTLIGHT ON THEINDIA, QATAR, ANDSAUDI ARABIA SECTIONS

SPOTLIGHT ON THEINDIA, QATAR, ANDSAUDI ARABIA SECTIONS

• SECTION SPOTLIGHT •

34 SOURCE FEBRUARY 2016

INDIA SECTION

35SOURCE FEBRUARY 2016

Submi6ed photo

Shown above at the launch of the India Sec2on, Philips Tharakan Mulackal, CCP EVP, VP Interna2onal Regions; Sankar Subrah-

maniyam, EVP, South India Sec2on President; Jaimin Mehta, Director of Region 8; Julie Owen, CCP PSP, AACE President; Chan-

drashekar Rao, Founder of Shreshreta Solu2ons; Sudarshan Karle, Director of Karle Group; and Dr. Koshy Varghese, Professor Indian

Ins2tute of Technology, Madras (IITM); par2cipate in a ligh2ng of the lamp, a tradi2onal way of beginning events in South India.

Submi6ed photo

Shown above AACE Vice President Interna2onal Regions, Philips

Tharakan Mulackal, CCP EVP, delivers a welcome address to at-

tendees at the launch of the India Sec2on.

Submi6ed photo

Shown above AACE Director Region 8, Jaimin R. Mehta, CCP PSP,

delivers an address to a3endees at the launch of the India Sec-

2on on Nov. 28, 2015, at Chennai, India.

36 SOURCE FEBRUARY 2016

Submi6ed photo

Shown above Chandrashekar Rao, founder of Shreshreta Solu-

2ons, delivers remarks at the launch of the India Sec2on. He

spoke on effec2ve use of RPs and the TCM Framework.

Submi6ed photo

Shown above Dr. Koshy Vargheese of IITM, delivers remarks to

a3endees at the launch of the India Sec2on. He spoke on gaps

in project controls in India.

Submi6ed photo

AACE President Julie Owen, CCP PSP, spoke to the India Sec2on about the associa2on, cer2fica2ons, knowledge resources, mem-

bership trends, the strategic plan, etc.

37SOURCE FEBRUARY 2016

Submi6ed photo

Shown above Philips Tharakan Mulackal, CCP EVP, Vice President Interna2onal Regions, gives the welcome to a3endees at the

launch of the India Sec2on. Seated from the le# are AACE President Julie Owen, CCP PSP; Chandrashekar Rao, founder of Shreshreta

Solu2ons; Jaimin Mehta, CCP PSP, Director Region 8; Sankar Subrahmaniyam, EVP, South India Sec2on President; and Dr. Koshy

Varghese, a professor with the Indian Ins2tute of Technology, Madras (IITM). The Nov. 28, 2015 launch ceremony was at The Hilton

Chennai.

Submi6ed photo

Shown above is part of the large crowd of at least 70 professionals who a3ended the Nov. 28, 2015, launch of the India Sec2on at

The Hilton, Chennai. The launch formally began with ligh2ng of lamp, a tradi2onal way of beginning auspicious events in South

India. There were various speakers, including AACE President Julie Owen, CCP PSP.

38 SOURCE FEBRUARY 2016

Sankar, President South India Sec5on, delivered a note of

thanks. He thanked all the a6endees who had taken 5me on a

Saturday evening to a6end the launch. He thanked Mr. Sudar-

shan Karle and M/s. Karle Infra Private Limited, a Karle Group

Company, for sponsoring the sec5on in India. He thanked PMI

Chennai Chapter E&C Forum, Mr. Karthik, Mr. Suresh Chavan

and Ms. Kavitha of Karle Infra for their voluntary support to

make the event successful. He men5oned that, “though Mr.

Madhu Pillai, Mr. Logan, and Mr. Mohammed Rafiuddin are not

present here, without their advice and support reaching this

stage would not have been possible.”

M/s. Karle Infra Private Limited, the real estate arm of Ban-

galore based Karle Group, offered to provide support and logis-

5cal services for sec5on members and poten5al AACE members

in India. Karle Infra has offered its address as the India address

for the sec5on, using its conference room facili5es for conduct-

ing sessions, sponsorship of Indian events including confer-

ences, workshops etc., and use of its office infrastructure for

sec5on ac5vi5es. ◆

The Qatar Sec5on was launched on Nov. 26, 2015.

Dr. R. Seetharaman, CEO Doha Bank, was the

keynote speaker. The chief guest for the event

was AACE Interna5onal President, Julie Owen,

CCP PSP, and the main guest of honor was Chair-

man of Qatar Society of Engineers, Ahmed Jassim

Al-Jolo. The event was a huge success with more than 150 pro-

fessionals from construc5on and associated industries in Qatar

a6ending. A6endees included leaders of venerated private and

government organiza5ons in Qatar.

In his keynote speech, Dr. Seetharaman gave an overview

on the local construc5on industry scenario and linked this with

the global financial condi5on, the expected future trend of the

construc5on Industry in the region, and the importance of cost

engineers in the current economic scenario.

AACE President Owen, in her speech, apprised the audi-

ence on the State of the Associa5on( AACE), as well as giving in-

sights on how to implement Program Management Office

(PMO) for project success through a technical presenta5on.

Mohammed Rafiuddin, CCP PSP, Director Region 7, an-

nounced the official opening of the Qatar Sec5on, which was

followed by Julie Owen cu7ng the ribbon. Rafiuddin also intro-

duced the team of officers for the Qatar Sec5on which consists

of nine officers.

Hussain Al-Omani, CCP CEP DRMP EVP PSP, President of

Arabian Gulf Sec5on (AGS), from which the Qatar Sec5on has

been formed, was present during the launch. He appreciates

forma5on of the Qatar Sec5on and assured full support of the

Arabian Gulf Sec5on to the Qatar Sec5on for its future en-

deavor.

Dev Tamboli, CCP PSP, thanked each and every one for their

support in forma5on of the Qatar Sec5on and then laid down

the vision, mission, and objec5ves of Qatar Sec5on, and assured

its members of the various ac5vi5es to be conducted by Qatar

Sec5on in the field of project management, cost engineering

and planning. The Qatar Sec5on will conduct training for pro-

fessionals, technical mee5ngs, social events and conferences.

He appealed to all the professionals to come forward and sup-

port the Qatar Sec5on and to serve the total cost management

and project controls fraternity in Qatar. Dev also announced

launching of the Qatar Sec5on website at www.aacei-qatar.org

and introduced various channels of communica5on for Qatar

Sec5on members, which includes email, Twi6er, Facebook, and

LinkedIn.

KUDOS!! to the Qatar Sec5on officers for making the event

a grand success. The Qatar Sec5on officers includes:

• Dev Tamboli – President, CCP PSP

• Haresh Jayanth – Vice President, PSP

• Ryan Ace Tan – Secretary, CCP PSP

• Manoj Joshi – Treasurer

• Avinash Gaikwad – Director Membership

• Sitansh Desai – PSP, Director Technical

• Amit Ranade – Director Events

• Mohamad Daaboul – Director Marke5ng & Publicity

• M I Mohammed Nizar – Director Administra5on

For more informa5on about the Qatar Sec5on, kindly visit

www.aacei-qatar.org or email: qataraace@gmail.com or contac-

tus@aacei-qatar.org. ◆

QATAR SECTION

Submi6ed photo

Shown above at the launch of the Qatar Sec2on, Devdas Tam-

boli, CCP PSP, Qatar Sec2on President; Julie Owen, CCP PSP,

AACE President; and Mohammed Rafiuddin, CCP PSP, Director

Region 7; cut the ribbon signifying the official launch of the

Qatar Sec2on during a ceremony on Nov. 26, 2015.