ISLAMABAD (PR) - The opening ceremony of the two-day international workshop on Construction Industry in Pakistan: Issues & Practices was held at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) here the other day. The workshop was designed to promote state-of-the-art construction management techniques and practices. Engineer Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, Chairperson Pakistan Engineering Council, was the chief guest. Dr Syed Mahmood Ahmed (Florida International University) was the keynote speaker. Rector NUST, Lt Gen Muhammad Asghar, chaired the event. According to the NUST press release, the Rector in his opening address welcomed the participants to the workshop and thanked the efforts of the chief guest, Senator Rukhsana due to which Pakistan has entered the Washington accord. He stressed on the need for effective planning in construction industry to enable projects to be completed on time. Senator Rukhsana Zuberi praised the efforts of NUST for organising such an event and providing a forum to discuss common issues in construction industry. She stressed that the state of affairs of construction industry in Pakistan were getting better and concrete steps were taken to make considerable change. Dr. Syed Mahmood Ahmed in his keynote gave his view about common issues in construction industry and stressed upon the importance of project management and scheduling for timely completion of projects with assigned budget. The workshop was attended by large number of students, faculty members, managers of different companies, consultants and Government officials.