The New Growth Path (NDP), in which infrastructure construction plays a vital role, should create five million new employment opportunities by 2020. This is one of the significant challenges currently faced by government stated Lindelani Mulaudzi, from the Department of Public Works Infrastructure Sector (DPW) at the Public Private Infrastructure Forum (PPIF) held in Gauteng.

Mulaudzi’s presentation outlined how the DPW is working with the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC) to achieve the goals of government’s plans for rolling out of infrastructure in the medium to long term – with a particular emphasis on the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPS).

It also had a strong emphasis on how the DPW is addressing job creation and labour intensive projects through the third phase of the DPW’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The EPWP’s origins stem from the Growth and Development Summit held in 2003 where it was stated that DPW programmes “can provide poverty and income relieve through temporary work for the unemployed to carry out socially useful activities.”

Mulaudzi stated that the EPWP will further increase the labour intensity of government-funded infrastructure projects.

The NDP has identified structural problems in the economy and identifies opportunities in specific sectors and markets – with one of these being infrastructure construction which lays the basis for higher growth rates and job creation. This is, however, currently being counter-pointed by the slow rate of infrastructure development and government spend within the sector.

Mulaudzi pointed out that blockages in the roll out of infrastructure include weak implementation capacity coupled with poor project development planning.

“Projects are seldom strategic, integrated or aligned leading to poor coordination,” pointed out Mulaudzi.

The DPW will be directly involved in three of the SIPS. These being:

SIP 6: Integrated Municipal Infrastructure Project

SIP 12: Revitalisation of Public Hospitals and Health Facilities

SIP 13: National School Building Programme

SIP 6 aims to develop a national capacity to assist the 23 least resourced districts to address all the maintenance backlogs and upgrades in water, electricity, and sanitation as well as bulk infrastructure. The district municipalities being assisted include five district municipalities in the Eastern Cape, ten in KwaZulu-Natal, four in Limpopo, two in the North West, one in the Free State and one in the Northern Cape.

SIP 12 will see the DPW building and refurbishing hospitals and other public health facilities as well as the refurbishing of 122 nursing colleges.

SIP 13 will replace inappropriate school structures through a national school build programme driven by uniformity in planning, procurement, contract management and the provision of the basic services.

The DPW appointed teams of civil engineering consultants to augment EPWP technical personnel in offering technical support to the 23 municipalities in late 2012 for a period of three years.

“It is against this backdrop that the DPW is calling on all interested parties in the delivery of the infrastructure plan to have a commitment to the creation of work opportunities, skill development and emerging contractor development initiatives of government in an endeavour to eradicate poverty and unemployment,” stated Mulaudzi.

Other speakers on the final day of the PPIF included:

• Andrew Lane, director of Deloitte Consulting
• Dr Oswald Franks, CEO of the Engineering Council of South Africa
• Mduduzi Shabangu, director: bulk water, City of Tshwane
• Frank Stevens, president of the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa
• Godfrey Ramalisa from Consulting Engineers South Africa
• Standford Mkhacane, president-elect South African Institution of Civil Engineering
• Norman Milne, president of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors
• Tumi Dlamini, executive director of Master Builders South Africa

Bell Equipment was the platinum sponsor of the annual PPIF.