Fixing It Together

While Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) supports the efforts that government is making in respect of infrastructure, it is important to move away from the strong focus on golden shovels and ribbon cutting that comes with greenfield projects.

The concern is that we have a legacy of good infrastructure that has been allowed to slide into various states of disrepair. What we need is a strong focus on maintaining what we have, so that the maintenance of these assets ticks the boxes of reliability, availability and affordability.

This is a sensitive balance that, if not well managed, will only force us to the tipping point where we need to build afresh. In stating this, with our current infrastructure in such a state of dilapidation, a key question is: Where will the money will come from?

The latest Infrastructure Report Card (IRC) that was released by the South African Institution of Civil Engineers (SAICE) in November 2022, and which CESA was a contributor to, is the most reliable recent reference on the state of the country’s infrastructure. It includes an assessment of roads, water, sanitation, airports, rail, ports, ICT, schools, healthcare and electricity – all found to be in varying states of repair.

The overall grading of essential assets was D, meaning generally at risk of failure. A grade of E is described as “unfit for purpose”. In the previous IRC published in 2017, a grading of D+ was assigned to the overall state of our infrastructure.

If we consider that we have a national election coming up in 2024, the seven months left in this year are far too short a period to effect any significant changes. Just as the current state of our infrastructure didn’t happen overnight, remediation will take years to implement. It is clear we may hear lots of promises, but the reality of the situation is that we are in for a bumpy ride.

Meeting the challenges

In order for the country to get the ball rolling, among other steps we need to overcome the three most significant impediments:

• Restore the trust between public and private sector

• Ensure that there is the political will

• Ensure policy certainty

To achieve these essentials, government needs to commit to a compact with the private sector, so that as social partners we can act as fast as we did with the COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and roll-out during the pandemic period.

We must get all players in the private and political sphere to set aside specific interests, putting the nation and the interests of the people of South Africa first.

CESA has and will continue to rally behind the cause to partner with government in addressing these challenges. We have more than 580 member companies and networks across the construction sector with the expertise and capacity to deliver on all the infrastructure we need, just as we did in preparation for the 2010 World Cup.

There has also been an ongoing narrative around the lack of capacity for project delivery in government. It is pointless for us to harp on about the cause of this when we should instead be focusing on implementing solutions to these problems.

Private-sector project engineering management capacity is available to be utilised, either as the “owner’s engineer” where capacity is lacking, or as the “implementing agent” where such capacity exists. This process can be used to both bolster and develop future capacity requirements in the public sector, as well as to ensure that at least budgets are spent, maintenance is effected and service delivery levels improve.

I would like to conclude by stating that one of the major choke points is the lack of strategic focus on the procurement process related to the commissioning of such professional services as a start. At CESA, we continue to challenge government while at the same time inviting a partnership in this regard. By lobbying for positive change to procurement legislation in relation to the development of infrastructure, we believe we can help to reignite our country’s economic growth and recovery.