An intensive four-week programme for prospective leaders from the civil engineering sector and related industries, held yearly at Stellenbosch University, is currently under way.

The Construction Management Programme (CMP) will culminate in a full-day open seminar and workshop involving industry delegates, the CMP faculty and alumni, 2013 delegates and their sponsors.

This year’s event is aimed at determining the role of the construction industry in overcoming the obstacles that prevent infrastructure construction as laid out in the National Planning Commission’s National Development Plan (NDP) – hence, the theme of CMP 2013: Bridging gaps constraining the execution of the NDP.

CMP director Jan Wium explains that this year’s theme hinges on last year’s programme, which focused on capacity development in the industry “to bridge the current restrictive environment in infrastructure development through innovative strategies”.

Wium tells Engineering News that CMP 2012 highlighted the fact that public organisations involved in infrastructure development lacked sufficient skills sets, especially those linked to procurement procedures ahead of development.

Assuming that last year’s CMP success- fully laid out foundational solutions aimed at overcoming the obstacle of skills shortages, this year’s programme will challenge delegates to become project pioneers and initiators of change.

“Throughout the four weeks, this year’s delegates will hopefully have had sufficient exposure to the issue and will be exposed to tools and techniques to formalise directives in terms of what the construction industry can do in this regard, with input from industry experts who will attend the final seminar,” says Wium.

About 68% of the 41 delegates attending the four-week programme represent professionals from construction firms. The remaining delegates hail from consultancies and client organisations who fund, finance or own infrastructure, including the Depart- ment of Water Affairs and State-owned enterprises such as the South African National Roads Agency and the Coega Development Corporation.

“CMP delegates have, on average, 15 years of experience. They are well versed in their industry and understand what the business is all about. The CMP is, therefore, more of a leadership programme. We are not only covering the basics but are also providing a management course aimed at high-level professionals,” says Wium.

The final seminar will comprise a keynote address from an industry professional, presentations by delegate working groups – which will showcase formulated solutions in support of this year’s theme – and a workshop to critique the proposed solutions.

CMP 2013 will come to a close with a resolution statement aimed at taking further action in terms of infrastructure development in accordance with the NDP.

“Every year, we get excited about the proposed solutions. We have, therefore, decided to prepare a document for publication in a technical journal, comprising this year’s solutions, for our ideas to gain some exposure,” says Wium.

Key Issues
Wium tells Engineering News that the lack of capacity in many client organisations still needs to be addressed. He explains that, while approved plans and sufficient funding have laid the foundation for several infrastructure projects to get under way, many owner organisations lack the capacity to start these projects.

“One option would be staff training, but this would take years. Another option would be for industry professionals to work hand in hand with owner organisations to provide assistance.”

Minister in The Presidency Responsible for the National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel highlighted key constraints hindering the execution of infrastructure development at the University of Pretoria’s 2012 Hendrik van der Bijl memorial lecture.

In his address, Manuel explained how the NDP provided solutions to enable the development of critical infrastructure projects, including policy planning and decision-making, which required trade-offs between competing national goals, coordination at implementation level and the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Manuel also called for decisive action in resolving problems and directing development processes, as well as leadership in all sectors, highlighting the need to communicate, listen, persuade and instil confidence in the proposed solutions and in the future.

“Engineers need to be attuned to the impera- tives that drive political decisions and politicians need to appreciate the implications of wrong decisions or correct decisions that are unduly delayed,” said Manuel.

He further highlighted the need to focus on ensuring the ownership of solutions for the challenges. “We also need to ensure that processes include all institutions involved in the decision-making process. All of this is ultimately what engineering aims for.”

Manuel concluded: “Effecting change is what engineers have to plan for, commit to and see through,” which is a concept that may appear to fall outside the traditional role of engineers, but one that is demanded by the challenges faced in South Africa.

Wium agrees and tells Engineering News that, while the responsibility of engineering- related professionals has not necessarily changed, their role in the industry has. “It’s not so much about responsibility as it is about taking the initiative to get projects under way,” he says.

He believes that, despite the construction industry in South Africa having the rele- vant skills and the capability to develop infrastructure, it is waiting for government organisations to provide the opportunities to tender for work.

He explains that, while finance is available and government departments do budget for the roll-out of certain projects, they struggle to spend that money, owing to a lack of capacity in those departments to implement necessary bureaucratic procedures.

Wium hopes to mitigate this challenge with solutions that will originate from this year’s CMP, helping the civil engi- neering industry to gain momentum by approaching government organisations with proposals for infrastructure development, thereby finding ways to source new projects themselves.