Project Ikusasa is a groundbreaking public-private partnership (PPP) between Sasol, a giant in South Africa’s energy and chemicals sector, and the municipalities of Metsimahalo and Govan Mbeki. In the hot seat for this edition is Sasol’s vice-president of public and regulatory affairs, Maureen Mboshane, who provides insight into the inner workings of this R800 million project.

THE PPP MODEL has long been regarded as one solution to local government infrastructure and service delivery challenges, with enormous potential especially for municipalities struggling with capacity.Sasolburg and Secunda are home to Sasol’s major facilities and Project Ikusasa seeks to satisfy both Sasol’s needs and those of their respective municipalities. From project scoping to sustainability, this work in progress could well serve as a template for PPPs in South Africa as a whole.

This is an impressive project. How did it come about?
MM There was clear symmetry between the Sasol partnering with municipalities’ needs and Sasol’s. Our needs are to attract and retain skilled talent – particularly young graduates – who have definite and reasonable expectations of the environments in which they want to live. They want to know that infrastructure is sound and reliable, that there is sufficient access to excellent educational and health facilities for their families, and that their environments are safe and attractive to live in. The Secunda and Sasolburg facilities and their equipment are quite old and we had to determine how to proceed in future. Do we maintain our presence in these areas or not? We took a deliberate decision to extend the life of our operations in these regions.

What does Ikusasa mean and what were the first steps in establishing a working framework?
Ikusasa is an isiZulu word for ‘hope’, with reference to the future or tomorrow. The need for the project emerged from Sasol’s 2050 strategy and it was launched in July 2011. By October 2011, we were able to define the scope of the project by ascertaining the needs of our employees and the broader communities. This research period also allowed us to assess the impact and sustainability of our established interventions. Specifically, this is a PPP with government, aimed at the two municipalities that are home to our operations in Secunda and Sasolburg. Our engagement is not limited to local government, but also includes provincial and national governments. We have built excellent relationships with these public entities, which have been vital to the success of our interventions.

A budget of R800 million was set, with R100 million allocated for each region for four years.

In identifying interventions, have you worked closely with the municipalities?
We have indeed. As Sasol identified its particular needs, specific reference was made to the municipalities’ integrated development plans to identify the placement of particular projects, while at the same time determining at what stage the projects were. We would then meet with the municipality to indicate our needs, find out their needs, and then agree on the projects to prioritise. Sometimes it was a case of meeting each other halfway, but in all instances, there would be mutual agreement. The principle we follow for each project is based on Sasol being able to begin and complete projects within identifiable objectives. We take the responsibility to handover completed projects.

How smoothly has this process gone?
We are now in the second year and I am happy to say it has gone extremely well. Because we are accountable for the project planning and management, we have been able to get to the implementation stage very rapidly. Throughout the various project stages, we have ensured that the municipalities are involved. The municipal engineers and technicians have been very involved and this has been of enormous value. There is excellent cooperation from the municipalities.

Within the context of this being a PPP, whose procurement processes are followed?
The whole project is managed within Sasol’s governance framework. We follow our own procurement processes throughout. Where necessary, we would appoint service providers and contractors, while relying on Sasol’s own engineers wherever possible. But ultimately it is about completing projects according to best practice. Sasol has a rich supply of project management skills and an ability to deliver on time and on budget, so it makes sense to use the expertise of our employees.

Once each project is completed, it is then handed over in its entirety back to the municipalities for the benefit of the communities and government. In this way, Sasol’s needs are met and so are government’s, so it is a real win-win situation.

What processes have you followed when appointing engineers?
The partnership and collaboration between Sasol and government almost goes beyond Ikusasa. If government, in our regular engagements, makes us aware of existing challenges – be it infrastructure or simply a capacity challenge within the municipality – we can intervene. We recently initiated a municipal capacity building initiative that the Mpumalanga premier requested to be rolled out to all municipalities in the province. We are currently reviewing this request.

What is Sasol’s approach to the sustainability of these projects?
This is probably the most important element. We are in a process of examination right now, looking at what we have achieved and figuring out how best to ensure the sustainability of these projects. While we don’t have all the answers yet, some of the capacity building measures I just mentioned play into the question of sustainability. We need to upskill and share our expertise in terms of asset management and maintenance and possibly come up with maintenance programmes for the municipalities.

How much impact has Ikusasa had on local job creation?
In terms of both implementing the projects and the subsequent maintenance work done, there has been a lot of employment for locals. There are also opportunities for growth for officials as we all learn together during the implementation phase, so that sense of ownership has to be transferred as well, to ensure the sustainability of these projects.

The long-term objective is improvement over time, and this requires the municipalities to take ownership. So far, we are seeing signs that this will be the case. Our relationships are strong and we are working extremely well together. The success of our collaboration will guarantee that cross-pollination of best practice will be the broader achievement.