PRESIDENT’S COMMENT
IMESA
Municipal excellence requires EXPERIENCE and TEAMWORK
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oor delivery in essential areas like energy, housing, water and sanitation have crippled many towns and communities, who often see protest action as their last resort and the only way to get municipalities to execute their mandates. As IMESA, we are acutely aware of this situation and our role as change-makers within the municipal engineering landscape. It is our objective and duty to ensure effective service delivery for all. However, to achieve this, municipal engineering personnel must have the necessary authority and autonomy. This should occur within the context of a senior management structure where the municipal manager, town engineer and chief financial officer are aligned and work towards common objectives. Politics should be left out of the equation. At a higher level, proactive cooperation also needs to exist between all levels of government so that there’s a common understanding of the challenges and agreedupon mechanisms in place to remove bottlenecks – procurement challenges being a prime example. The latter frequently result in project delays and cost overruns.
Contributing factors that escalate costs Engineering depar tments in metro and local municipalities face numerous challenges that contribute to rising infrastructure costs. Covid-19 has certainly been a factor, as has the sharp escalation in commodity and construction materials
While the turnout was lower than expected, those who did cast their vote in November’s Local Government Elections should be commended for their commitment to South Africa’s democratic process. The key motivation for many is the urgent need to turn around underperforming municipalities.
prices. However, before the virus hit, existing contributors included: • The 30% Contract Participation Goal component for construction and professional service contracts, where a portion of the contract must be allocated to targeted enterprises. In IMESA’s view, this was introduced without putting proper processes and systems in place. • Poor contractor performance, which sometime leads to termination. Thereafter, the time delay in appointing a new contractor to finish the work further increases infrastructure costs. We appreciate that National Treasury is now engaging with professional bodies like IMESA to resolve procurement issues related to the interpretation of regulations and compliance requirements. An important step is the process started by the National Treasury City Support Programme water team to facilitate the clearing of procurement impediments that hinder the smooth delivery of infrastructure in this segment. To improve the enabling environment, National Treasury, as well as Public Works and its entities (cidb and CBE) are also collaborating to look at the issues raised by industry and are seeking ways to resolve them. That’s a very positive step.
a vital part of the service delivery model going forward. This was underscored during the 2021 Medium-term Budget Policy Statement presentation, which stated that “a review of PPP regulations completed in May 2021 recommends simplifying the regulations, eliminating delays in approval and implementation, standardising project preparation, and building capacity at all government levels – to be implemented from early 2022.” After our long battle with Covid-19, we’re all looking forward to an end to the pandemic and a return to normality. All the signs are encouraging. In the meantime, I’d like to wish our IMIESA readers, our members, and all stakeholders a happy and refreshing break over the festive season. We look forward to engaging again in 2022.
PPP opportunities There’s no doubt that 2022 will be a vital recovery year for South Africa and we all need to be aligned to fully leverage publicprivate partnership (PPP) opportunities driven by the Infrastructure Fund. PPPs are
Bhavna Soni, president, IMESA
IMIESA November/December 2021
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