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More public engineers needed to implement R827bn infrastructure plan

18th October 2013

By: Samantha Herbst

Creamer Media Deputy Editor

  

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The public sector will require more engineers than it has at present if it wants to successfully implement the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP), which has earmarked R827-billion for infrastructure projects over a three-year period from the current financial year, says the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineering (SAIMechE).

“If one considers the number of projects, tenders, evaluations of specifications and site inspections that need to be dealt with as part of the National Development Plan (NDP), then it is clear that the public sector will require substantially more engineering professionals,” says SAIMechE CEO Vaughan Rimbault.

He points out that advertisements for senior engineering professionals in the public sector suggest a shortage of suitable candidates with the necessary education, experience and demographic quality and he believes that working conditions in the public sector have been made unattractive by political policies.

“Currently, salary packages for senior engineering professionals in the public sector are 60% of those in the private sector. There is also a notion that technical skills are easy to replace, while transformation-driven initiatives encourage white males to leave the sector without regard for the loss of appro- priate skills,” says Rimbault.

He adds that South Africa is still suffering from the brain drain but stresses that this is not the most pertinent issue. “SAIMechE is encouraged by the number of professionals who wish to remain in South Africa. Never- theless, too many graduates struggle to gain valuable work experience that could develop their professional skills.”

Internal Development
SAIMechE believes the way to ensuring that more engineers are employed in the public sector is to turn the public sector into a nett producer of engineering professionals using the professional engineering resources it already has as a sustainable long-term solution to its needs.

“Through the formation of partnerships with professional bodies, such as SAIMechE, the public sector would be in a position to implement programmes and develop the professional skills required for its existing structures,” says Rimbault.

“Ultimately, we would be working towards the public sector producing surplus engineering professionals in five to ten years’ time,” he adds.

Rimbault believes the first step to ensuring that the number of professional engineers in the public sector increases is to offer national service contracts in the public sector to any engineering graduate who fails to find employment in the private sector.

“These should be contracts lasting for a minimum of three years, according to which candidates submit themselves to an initial phase of basic training. After this, the idea is for candidates to be deployed in the public sector to work as part of pro- fessional development programmes managed by voluntary engineering associations.”

Rimbault reiterates that this solution is long-term and the benefits will be reaped only in three to five years from implementation.

“The sooner we start, the better,” he says, adding that government should contract specialists who have engineering back- grounds for the aggressive recruitment of existing engineering skills to find suitable skills sets.

Meanwhile, SAIMechE communications committee chairperson Chris Reay further stresses the importance of taking action as soon as possible and suggests that the public sector employ engineers with leadership skills.

He explains that, in implementing the NDP, the public sector becomes what is known in engineering terms as ‘the owner’s team’, which constitutes the top of the project pyramid. The public sector, therefore, not only owns the project but is also responsible for conceiving, approving and conceptualising it.

“The owner’s team relies on the consult- ants, engineers and contractors, as well as on the operations and maintenance functions, for the lifetime of the asset. If your owner’s team is deficient or dysfunctional in any way, the rest of the project won’t work,” he says.

Rimbault agrees, adding that it is in everyone’s best interest for the public sector to lead the infrastructure projects rather than outsourcing the function. “Therefore, a properly skilled engineering team is key.”

Reay reiterates that the numbers required for specialist resources exceed those currently available in the market.

“The required resources are in very limited supply and the problem is further compounded by the challenges created by broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) policies, which have excluded certain skilled and experienced professionals from public service or encouraged them to retire early, creating a huge professional engineering skills gap in the public service.

“The numbers needed are high and strict application of BBBEE rules may jeopardise effective skills development. We need to use all the available resources to ensure the proper development and empowerment of all candidates,” Reay adds.

Strategic Objectives
Commenting on SAIMechE’s long-term strategic objectives and how they relate to the goals of the NDP, Rimbault highlights the institution’s Professional Development Programme (PDP), which is specifically designed to develop the professional competences of graduates in the work environment.

He tells Engineering News that SAIMechE’s primary objective is to address the current and future needs for engineering professionals, adding that the PDP is “ideally suited” to implementation in the public sector.

Rimbault further believes that, as the professional skills defined by the Engineering Council of South Africa are generic, the engineering industry should be able to implement a single development programme across most disciplines.

“We believe that every engineering institution has a role to play in the development of professionals,” he concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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