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CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2016
– power stations, roads, dams, water supply pipe-
lines, rail and port facilities, schools, hospitals etc.
Making Africa less exposed
The adverse global economic environment has
not helped the situation. It is, however, generally
accepted that in such times, the need for broad-
based economic infrastructure is not diminished.
In fact, it increases. It is now that Africa canmove
forward to become competitive globally. This will
only be achieved by reducing the cost of doing
business in Africa, improving the quality of labour
so that manufacturing and service industries can
be improved. If these are achieved, it will make
Africa less dependent on the highs and lows
of the global economy as it will have its own
diversified and resilient economies.
At the core of this is efficient infrastructure.
Without it Africa will always be seen as the
Dark Continent and it will always be maximally
exposed to adverse global economy cycles.
Wilhelm du Plessis
Editor
>
COMMENT
EDITOR & DEPUTY PUBLISHER
Wilhelm du Plessis
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Sustainable Construction World, our second sustainable supple-
ment, will be published in October. Although green building is
still very much in its infancy in South Africa, it is becoming vital.
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9 SEPTEMBER 2016
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2 16BEST
PROJECTS
In sub-Saharan Africa the populationwill increase
to 2,4 billion by 2050 (in 2013 it was 1,1 billion)
– most of this growth will be in cities. Estimates
indicate that the area will need some 40 million
tonnes of new cement tomeet the infrastructure
needs of this escalating urbanisation.
Getting it right
This is, however, dependent on whether local
governments can focus on more effective
infrastructure delivery procurement. So says
professional services firm, Deloitte Africa. The
company’s Jeanne-Pierre Labuschagne – the
infrastructure and capital projects lead, spoke at
the recent African Construction Expo in Midrand.
This expo has the specific aim of promoting
public and private sector collaboration with the
construction industry.
Urbanisation will create the biggest opportu-
nities for infrastructure investment, construction
and growth – this will influence the economies
of countries directly. However, Labuschagne
maintains that the connectivity of cities to smart
corridors will determine future growth – and this
connectivity can only be achieved with infra-
structure: roads, airports, harbours, etc.
Africa is home to seven rapidly growing megacities: Cairo (Egypt),
Accra (Ghana), Johannesburg-Pretoria (South Africa), Khartoum
(Sudan), Kinshasa-Brazzaville (Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Republic of the Congo), Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya).
PICTURED: the Johannesburg CBD.
The reality is that infrastructure procurement is
not well executed – government systems, espe-
cially in South Africa, are not well designed which
leads to delays in the planning and approval of
vital projects.
To solve this, tender specifications, procure-
ment processes, the monitoring of these and the
evaluations of existing governmental projects
have to be improved.
There has been improvement. According to
Deloitte’s Africa Construction Trend Report 2015
the number of infrastructure projects that qualify
for inclusion in this report increased from 257 in
2014 to 301 (17% increase).
Southern Africa is significantly behind North
Africa in terms of the number of new projects.
Notwithstanding this, South Africa has spent
R2,2-trillion on infrastructure between the
1998/1999 and 2014/15 financial years. The big
spenders locally are PRASA, SANRAL, Eskom,
Transnet – it is no surprise that they are state-
owned enterprises.
Over the next three years the South African
government has committed to spending some
R800-billion on various infrastructure projects
Future growth in African construction
will be in cities. By 2050 the world’s urban
population will have increased by two
thirds, up from 3,9 billion to a projected
6,3 billion people. This is according to the
United Nations’ estimates. Nearly 90% of
this growth will take place in Africa and
Asia, resulting in over 20% of the world’s
urban population living in African cities.