Minister for the Department of Infrastructure Development, Jacob Mamabolo, says drone technology will be a game changer for accountability and transparency in the construction sector.

After launching its drone programme in eTwatwa in Ekurhuleni in earlier this year, the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) has worked intensively with the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Applied Research and Innovation in the Built Environment (CARINBE) to enhance the capabilities of its five drones.

The department’s five drones monitor its construction projects across Gauteng’s five development corridors.  According to Mamabolo the new technology has lightened the load on the department’s project managers who are required to visit sites spread throughout Gauteng’s corridors.

Changing the way social infrastructure is delivered

“We are now able to compare the work that is being done with the architectural plans and this is a unique opportunity for us to identify, throughout the construction phase if a contractor is veering from the original plans,” Mamabolo explains.

The precise on-the-ground monitoring that has been made possible through the drone project, has fundamentally changed the way DID delivers its social infrastructure projects.

A key benefit is that assists in minimising cost overruns that often open the space for corruption and delays in the delivery of high quality projects such as schools, clinic, libraries, community centres and hospitals.

A full picture

“What the drone programme gives us is an ability to monitor our projects, not only based on what we are told by our contractors or our project managers. Many of our sites used to be ‘sealed black boxes’ where we would not be getting the full or true picture.

“For the first time, we have an independent system that tells us what is happening on site. We are now able to validate all other source information. We are able to triangulate information on three levels – the human intelligence from our project managers, the business intelligence housed in our nerve centre, Lutsinga Infrastructure house, and now the artificial intelligence embedded in the drone programme,” Mamabolo adds.