The IMESA CESA Awards, sponsored by Iliso Consulting Engineers,  took place on 28 October at Durban’s ICC. It was also the occasion of the IMESA Conference 2014 Presidential Address, which saw the handover of the Institute’s presidency from outgoing President, Frank Stevens to new President, Duncan Daries. It was also an occasion for Stevens to reflect on the term of his presidency and the development of IMESA.

Growth

President Frank Stephens reflected on the substantial growth in membership of the institute over the last 24 months.  With membership now standing at 1289 members, a large portion of this 18 % in growth is comprised of young engineers, who are crucial to municipal engineering. “Today, close to 40% of our total membership is made up consultants, contractors and suppliers,” observed Stevens.

Head office

Stevens acknowledged the crucial role of the team that staffs IMESA’s head office (IMESA House) in Westville, KZN and welcomed Narisha Sogan (finance officer), King Singh (office manager0  and Dashree Reddy (IMESA Pty (Ltf) Finance Officer), all of whom joined the team over the last two years. “I personally thank the amazing head office team for its support to the Institute as well as to myself over the last years,” said Stephens.

Actvities

Whilst Stevens acknowledged that it would be impossible to cover all the activities undertaken by IMESA, he highlighted several crucial examples, with high impact. IMESA’s interactions with other institutions and organisations, like SALGA, COGTA, DWA and ECSA are central to the Institute’s development and influence. The Municipal Benchmarking Initiative is an example of a high impact project born of cooperation and coordination of several stakeholders, in this case IMESA, SALGA and the WRC. “All of the country’s 152 Water Services Authorities took part,” explained Stevens. This level of participation is extraordinary and represents a great success.

Stevens also mentioned IMESA’s role in ecological development, quoting a recent remark made at a meeting of the South African Biodiversity Institute: “…Municipal engineers have a vital part to play…and need to be team players to ensure that ecological infrastructure receives adequate attention in all municipal projects.”

IMESA’s ongoing membership of the International Federation of Municipal Engineers has led several key opportunities, and Stevens has interacted with municipal engineers from some 20 countries. “II found the respect shown towards IMESA’s activities, and the interest shown in how South African municipal engineers tackle their challenges both exciting and humbling,” reported Stevens, who presented papers on IMESA at the past three IFME meetings.

IMESA PTY (LTD)

IMESA is making great strides in the roll out of its Asset Management IIMS System, with nearly all municipalities in the Free State having uploaded their data. The Institute has provided both financial and training support to this project, which is set to make a massive contribution to managing the nation’s municipal infrastructure.

Steven’s also noted that IMESA’s training courses continue to grow in demand and have delivered quality training to more than 622 people over the past two years.

Supporting the nation

Stevens concluded his speech with a focus on national concerns. Stevens communicated with then Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan shortly regarding the role of IMESA in supporting the National Development Plan. “I also noted the importance of resolving the following critical issues nationally and local level before the goals of the NDP could be realised: improvement needed in mathematics and science at school level; professionalisation of local authorities; serious attention to asset management, and training of artisans.”

Stevens concluded by thanking Ethekwini Water and Sanitation for their support of his tenure as IMESA president, as well as his wife, Hettie.

Welcome to Duncan Daries

Infrastructurene.ws and IMIESA would like to congratulate Duncan Daries on becoming President of IMESA and extend to him our support. Daries was formally inaugurated last night, and expressed his gratitude to IMESA’s Executive Committee.

“My goal for IMESA is first of all to consolidate our position by being the voluntary institute of choice for professionals and graduates within the municipal environment, by offering them appropriate support in continued professional development, and through an upgraded website with appropriate knowledge sharing and networking opportunities.

“My second goal is to continue the excellent work undertaken by previous presidents in partnering with relevant volunteer sister institutes, as well as associations such as SALGA and MISA. We continue to reach out to municipalities who do not have any representatives as members of IMESA, as there surely is a need for technical staff to network with fellow professionals.

“Stemming from our last executive meeting, we will review our governance framework (constitution and by-laws) to consolidate portfolios on our Executive Council to ensure greater input and interaction with the general council of IMESA.”

We wish Daries all success over the coming 24 months.