Construction sector puts focus on BEE

pretoria - the development of a black economic empowerment (bee) policy for the construction industry is "without a doubt the most important and pressing issue" facing the sector, according to craig clarke, the newly elected president of the sa association of consulting engineers.

at a breakfast of the association on wednesday, clarke emphasised that the formulation of a broad-based bee policy for the industry was one of the priority areas during his presidency.

he said the association had decided at its convention and general meeting in october last year to develop its own bee policy, in line with the balanced scorecard system published by the department of trade and industry.

clarke described the balanced scorecard as "a brilliant strategy", adding that it should not only contribute to the achievement of rapid and meaningful bee but also give significant impetus to economic growth and go a long way towards overcoming the problem of fronting.

a bee policy for the construction industry was "an absolute imperative", he said. "if we don't succeed, the country will fail. the economic growth anticipated cannot happen without bee and it's also morally correct."

clarke said the intention was to incorporate the association's bee policy into a construction industry charter, which the sector was hoping to draw up at a summit planned for april.

he said a lot of work had to be done before the industry could finalise a bee policy, but the participants hoped to "have an announcement for south africa in two to three months".


highlighting the problems facing the industry, clarke said less than 5 percent of registered professional engineers in south africa were black, which had a negative impact on the industry's capacity to grow black equity, as it was essential that engineering practices continued to be owned by qualified engineers.

but on the positive side, clarke said more than 10 percent of the executive management of member firms of the sa association of consulting engineers and more than 25 percent of professional and technical staff were black.

in total, more than 30 percent of the staff employed in consulting engineering firms were black.

the association is a non-profit voluntary business organisation representing more than 425 firms.

"the members still have a long way to go, but in terms of the available resources they are doing well," clarke said.

the association had for some time been highlighting the critical shortage of engineers, both black and white, and it recognised that more black students needed to be recruited into the industry.

"engineering must be the single most critical profession on earth. without engineers there would be no water, no sanitation, no electrical energy, no transport and no communications. there would be no healthcare facilities, no schools, no industry and no commerce," clarke said.

other areas of focus during his presidency would be young professional development, capacity building in africa, the negative impact of preferential procurement policies and hiv/aids.