Construction World December 2018

The Best Projects Awards, a highlight on the Construction World calendar, was attended by various of Crown Publications’ staff. FROM LEFT: Erna Oosthuizen, Bennie Venter, Wilhelm du Plessis, Karen Grant (publisher), Wendy Charles, Peter Middleton, Munesu Shoko, Shaun Smith, Karen Smith and Elmarie Stonell.

COMMENT

For the last 10 years we have dedicated the December issue of Construction World to our annual Best Projects Awards. The magazine showcases all the winners and entries while it provides a photographic reportage of the vibrant awards ceremony.

Sadly, however, the construction industry as a whole is anything but vibrant at the moment. Many say that the industry is at a crossroads as the outlook is bleak and activity in the industry declining. Since the build-up to the FIFA World Cup in 2010, the industry has been in consistent decline – and when the turnaround of this downward trend will come, is not clear. This has necessitated some major players to relocate business offshore or change their focus from Africa to other parts of the world. Some companies have also gone into business rescue. Suffice to say that the construction industry’s landscape has changed: the companies once known as the Big Five are no longer the big five. The result is that vital skills are lost as those in the construction industry migrate to other market sectors. This will lead to a long-term shortage of capacity when the turnaround eventually comes, impacting on the industry’s ability to deliver capital projects. There are various reasons for the downward trend: from political uncertainty, investor caution, construction industry restructuring to market legislative conditions. The negative trend has also been caused by international factors. The US economy

is stronger than it has been for a while. At the same time economic growth is forecast to slow in almost every other economy (including China). Sadly this forecast includes emerging markets. This will mean that there will be divergent interest rates between the US market and the rest of the world, which in turn impacts on emerging currencies – something that became evident recently when the Turkish lira lost significant value. The US and China’s (and with other countries) trade stand-off is an example of how this leads to trade tensions. South Africa, as an emerging economy, obviously benefits from multilateralism as trade barriers are reduced. It stands to lose when this is compromised in any way. South Africa cannot do much to withstand such international headwinds, but will have to look inward to weather the storm. In the current domestic climate, there is little to look inward to. The country has experienced negative economic growth in the first two quarters – something that has to be arrested if growth is to sustain the country’s needs. It is consistently negatively impacted by a plethora of factors:

state capture, mismanagement, inability to implement the National Development Plan, corruption and the dwindling global attractiveness of the country. Many refer to this as a ‘lost decade’ for South Africa. The result is that investor confidence has eroded so much that few new projects are invested in. There are positives: The announcement of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s stimulus package, the Jobs Summit in October and the appointment of Tito Mboweni as Finance Minister bode well for a more positive outlook and new outcomes and indicate that the tide for the building and construction sector could be turning. With this mixture of positive and negative sentiments, I wish you a safe and peaceful Festive Season.

Wilhelm du Plessis Editor

Publisher of the Year 2018 (Trade Publications)

@ConstWorldSA

www.facebook.com/construction-worldmagazinesa

EDITOR & DEPUTY PUBLISHER Wilhelm du Plessis constr@crown.co.za ADVERTISING MANAGER Erna Oosthuizen ernao@crown.co.za LAYOUT & GRAPHIC ARTIST Katlego Montsho CIRCULATION Karen Smith

PUBLISHER Karen Grant PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY Crown Publications cc P O Box 140 BEDFORDVIEW, 2008 Tel: 27 11-622-4770 • Fax: 27 11-615-6108

TOTAL CIRCULATION: (Third Quarter '18) 6 092

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. PRINTED BY Tandym Cape

www.constructionworldmagazine.co.za

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