OVERVIEW
Engineering Major restructuring is under way.
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or many years leading up to the Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa in 2010, the bigger engineering companies developed into conglomerates with several divisions and international operations. But the latest trend is for these large companies to unbundle and narrow their focus. Some firms have kept their focus on niche areas such as electrical engineering, construction, fluids control and project management. These firms continue to build on their expertise. The reason normally given for the move to restructure is the fact that the expected infrastructure spending boom after the World Cup has not materialised. This has led to many companies aiming to become more flexible and better able to pursue projects in other countries in Africa and overseas. With slow growth, national freight and logistics company Transnet has not been able to pursue its R300-billion infrastructure programme at the speed that it wanted to. SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2019
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SECTOR INSIGHT Renewable energy projects are creating opportunities for engineers. Aspects of the programme, such as the acquisition of locomotives, are going ahead (despite some of the projects being the subject of corruption investigations) and the expansion programmes of the Gautrain and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) are providing work for engineers.
