https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Is labour-intensive construction still an option for unemployment alleviation?

SOCIOECONOMIC BENEFITS Labour-intensive construction is geared toward providing the poorest people of a country a means of alleviating the pressures of unemployment and poverty

Photo by Duane Daws

ROBERT MCCUTCHEON While labour-intensive construction alone cannot be a solution to the unemployment challenges it can contribute significantly to alleviating the problem

Photo by Duane Daws

PLANNING FOR SUCCESS The success of a labour-intensive construction project is often dictated by correct planning

Photo by Bloomberg

13th May 2016

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

Font size: - +

The Department of Public Works’ (DPW’s) Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) should be focused on delivering projects in rural areas using labour-intensive construction (LIC) methods if it is to meet its objective of providing poverty and income relief for six-million South Africans by 2019.

Multidisciplinary management, engineering and development consultancy Hatch specialist infrastructure consultant James Croswell, who helped develop the DPW Guidelines for Implementation of Labour-Intensive Construction, explains that many projects under the EPWP are rolled out in urban areas and because incentive structures are afforded to municipalities using LIC, workers receive wages that are disproportionately higher than the value of the work done.

Further, municipalities can pay large portions of project works and, in some cases, fund projects using the remuneration received from the incentives. However, they are not brought to task for overpaying for projects, owing to labour wages, which Croswell highlights comes at a “great cost” to the national fiscus.

One of the conditions of LIC is that remuneration is allocated according to the number and type of tasks completed, regardless of the time it took to do so. Also, the cost of labour should not be higher than capital equipment- intensive construction.

However, Croswell asserts that, if the rate of remuneration is too high and becomes uneconomical, LIC should be replaced by capital equipment-intensive construction methods.

Economically Competitive
University of the Witwatersrand civil and environmental engineering professor emeritus Robert McCutcheon says research suggests that LIC can be economically competitive at a task rate of below R160 a ‘task’. A ‘task’ refers to a specified amount of work that must be performed before being paid and which is permitted in the Ministerial Determinations on Special Public Works, first published in 2002 and again in 2012.

He adds that LIC methods aim to provide the poorest people with employment opportunities to help alleviate the pressures of unemployment and poverty.

“While LIC might not always be the most cost-effective solution for a project, it is effective in addressing some of the socioeconomic challenges faced by South Africa.”

Effective LIC employs at least three times the number of people as equipment-based construction and, in some instances, can employ as much as 20 times the number of people, McCutcheon avers.

He and Croswell highlight that the construction industry is not conducive to providing permanent employment, particularly for labourers: “It is difficult for a construction company to safeguard jobs when it has no certainty as to when it will sign another construction contract,” explains McCutcheon.

However, he believes that the determination of LIC task rates should be informed by the standard, annual, construction industry-agreed rate, and not by cost-reduction strategies, which often result in the lowest possible remuneration. This creates a bias in favour of using capital equipment, owing to construction companies not wanting to deal with labour issues and negative perceptions of LIC, including notions of labour not being decent work or being less efficient than equipment.

“The idea of people working with a pick and shovel is offensive to many decision-makers. There is a perception that modernity does away with manual labour when, in fact, evidence of manual labour is merely placed in factories,” McCutcheon states.

Croswell points out that perceptions also play a powerful role in community engagement processes, as communities often feel discouraged if capital equipment is not used to complete construction, as is commonly the case for projects in more affluent areas.

However, he asserts that, if project developers engage with communities during pre- feasibility planning, it becomes easier to receive approval from the community, as they will understand what the economic benefits would be for its members who work on a construction project.

The way in which the EPWP is structured does not allow for community engagement, often resulting in conflict between contractors and communities, Croswell asserts.

He explains that the EPWP awards contracts but does not inform, consult or sensitise contractors or communities to project requirements, resulting in poor contractor performance, as they often do not meet the specifications and targets of the project.

McCutcheon points out that many projects under the EPWP have not been done according to contractual stipulations regarding the mandatory use of labour for specific items in the Bill of Quantities, which are known to be appropriate when using LIC methods, in particular excavation, load, haul, unload and spread operations.

He and Croswell agree that contractors who do not meet the LIC target stipulation in contracts should be penalised. “If a contractor does not build a road to specification, then the employer is entitled to tell the contractor to “rip and replace” the work done at the cost of the contractor. However, this does not happen if contractors do not meet the LIC requirements or specifications,” McCutcheon says. He adds that there are greater concerns regarding project delivery than enforcing contractual agreements.

Meanwhile, McCutcheon highlights that studies have shown that, if LIC is correctly used, which requires projects designed and engineered to be constructed by hand, it can be as efficient as equipment-based construction.

Croswell adds that LIC detractors view the practices as being too time-consuming, particularly when a large number of people have to be trained, which he asserts is because project developers do not have the requisite knowledge or experience to effectively roll out LIC, pointing to the need for training in this regard. McCutcheon says that proper planning will allow for training and project deadlines to be met.

He notes that the number of artisanal training institutions in South Africa is insufficient to meet the needs of the construction industry.

Skills Development
LIC can provide not only economic relief for the poorest South Africans but also much-needed skills for them, McCutcheon emphasises.

However, contractors and project developers deem training as a nonessential cost. To overcome this, McCutcheon states that it is the onus of government to promote training and that it should reintroduce apprenticeship programmes.

“The country needs to realise that, if it wants skilled people, it needs to start training them. The State has to provide an immense amount of training, particularly at artisanal level.”

Croswell and McCutcheon note that training, which was a requirement of the EPWP in its original formulation, is an important aspect of effective LIC. McCutcheon adds that the Consolidated Overview of the original EPWP specified a labour-intensive training institution as a deliverable in the EPWP Logframe, which was published in June 2004. But consistent, specific LIC training has not been implemented with no formal or coordinated training programmes being established.

“A properly established training programme is an absolutely essential component of successful LIC, particularly in the face of the strength of the existing equipment-based sociotechnical system,” he states.

Croswell highlights that the guidelines initially stated that a project should not be designed by an individual who had not received the requisite National Qualifications Framework training for LIC.

However, this is no longer a requirement of the EPWP.

Local LIC Pioneers
McCutcheon and Croswell are South African LIC pioneers and were members of the National Committee on Labour Intensive Construction (NCLIC), which was formed in 1992 by members of the civil engineering fraternity.

In 1993, the NCLIC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) signed a framework agreement, which outlined the potential of LIC methods within a public works programme, as well as the contractual terms and training required to make LIC economically feasible.

However, the labour laws of the country did not allow for task-based remuneration and it was only until the Ministerial Determination on Special Public Works Programmes was gazetted in 2002 that LIC received government support and allowed for task-based remuneration.

The Ministerial Determination was renewed in 2012.

Meanwhile, Croswell and McCutcheon are doubtful that the EPWP, which states on its website that it has created five-million work opportunities from 2004 to 2014, has met the original employment goals of a significant increase in proper skills and employment generated per unit of expenditure on public building and infrastructure.

McCutcheon states that the endemic unemployment rate in South Africa, which Statistics South Africa currently places at 24.5%, is evidence that LIC is not being employed effectively.

“While LIC alone cannot [be] a solution to the unemployment challenges . . . it can contribute significantly to alleviating the problem,” he concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa (Pty) Ltd

Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.084 0.135s - 157pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now