Prospects are looking up for Western Cape civil and building contractors

things are looking up for the civil engineering industry in the western cape, and 95% of contractors approached by the cape offices of their association safcec in a recent snap survey expressed greater optimism than for some time.

of course, this comes after five pretty tough years for the industry, followed by two somewhat better ones, as safcec’s western cape manager daan hurter points out.. but the industry is now working at 70% capacity, and considering the general state of the construction industry, and where it has been in recent years, this is a positive development.

the work at present is mostly in the provision of low cost housing developments, access roads and water reticulation, and in highway maintenance. the recent increase in funding for the upkeep and maintenance of national and provincial roads has been widely welcomed by contractors.

a number of major civils projects are in the pipeline, including a large dam and some extensions at koeberg power station, but these are some way still from even going out to tender.

the good news is that subsidies for low cost housing have been substantially increased in trevor manuel’s recent budget. but as albe laker, safcec’s cape chairman and managing director of contractors asla points out, the challenge now lies in the spending of the budget and in delivery.

due to necessary transformations in national, provincial and local government delays were experienced in the spending of budgets that resulted in a backlog in delivery in general. recent indications are that the new processes and procedures that were put in place are bearing fruit and that spending will be on track soon.

crime in certain townships also contributes to the climate of non-delivery. there have been so many cases of contractors’ staff being attacked and robbed at gunpoint, and vehicles and equipment stolen or damaged, that few contractors are prepared to work there.

one recent case may serve to illustrate the extent of the problem. on february 15 at about 10.30am paul vink and mark bondietti, two council officials from the roads and stormwater directorate were in kwedi zingelwa street, langa, together with two consultants from uwp engineers, to attend a tender site inspection.

they were held up at gunpoint by a gang of six armed men and robbed of cellphones, wallets, watches and other items. none of them was harmed, but one of the attackers repeatedly shouted “shoot them”, it was reported.

the irony of the situation was that the damage had already been done by previous incidents of this kind. although everyone needs work, not one contractor turned up to attend the site inspection.

on the positive side, however, the unicity administration has recognised that the construction industry has an important role to play as a provider both of services and of jobs, and has invited representatives of the industry to become involved in the implementation of their capital budget.

“we have been invited to monitor progress and assist them in speeding up the distribution of budgeted funds to get the job done. this is a major breakthrough, and the authorities concerned deserve the highest praise for taking this action,” laker says.