Namibia’s current supply of engineering professionals is not enough to implement Vision 2030 and the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) for infrastructure design, planning, maintenance and supervision.

If Namibia is to achieve these, the current annual growth in engineers entering the profession needs to increase from 7% to 11%. This is was found to be the case by a new study on the role of the engineering profession in Namibia. The study, which is the first of this kind in the country, was carried out by the Engineering Professions Association of Namibia (EPA).

The report was recently launched by the Namibian Deputy Minister of Works and Transport Kilus Nguvauva. Its findings were presented at a two-day forum hosted by the EPA and the partnering entities including the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), the Engineering Council of Namibia (ECN), the University of Namibia and the Polytechnic of Namibia. The outcome of the forum is a recommendation to government as a contribution from the engineering fraternity for development in the attainment of Vision 2030.

The study comes at an opportune time when major projects such as mass housing, upgrading of major roads in the country to dual carriage way and the building of a major dam is being initiated by government. The EPA believes the support of the engineering fraternity in national development goals and its achievement is vital.

The report found that it will be critical to train and mentor the next generation of engineers over the next 10 years before the current group of 50-year-old engineers retire.Currently,1 271 engineers are registered with the Engineering Professions Association Council of Namibia. However, roughly 4% of these are already older than 50 years.

The report predicts that almost N$10 billion (R10 billion) will be spent on infrastructure development in the current financial year. However, achieving these predictions will not be possible without the input of engineering professionals in the industry. The challenge is then to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to cope with the drastically increased workload.

The report cautions that, “If the concerns and recommendations raised in the report are not taken seriously and if no interventions by the right authorities are not made, and if the status quo is allowed to continue into the future, then the delivery of infrastructure will continue to be delayed.”