Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala has vowed to intensify Operation Pay-on-Time and urgently put an end to the failure of government to pay service providers in the construction industry within 30 days.

He was speaking at the National Stakeholder Forum convened by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), which is an entity of the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI). 

The National Stakeholder Forum is comprised of contractors in the built industry, government departments and municipalities involved in infrastructure development, built industry organisations and councils, institutions of higher learning, and other key players in the built environment industry.

The forum is convened for the Minister to gain insight from the players in the industry and go through emerging trends and developments, and to respond to threats and new opportunities emerging within the sector.

“We will commence engagements with all contractors not paid on time. It is time that we fight bribery and corruption where payments are delayed in order to force them to pay. We are alarmed at the allegations that outstanding invoices amount to billions. We will intensify the Re a Patala campaign to all provinces,” Zikalala said.

FINANCING
Responding to the challenge faced by small, medium-sized, and microenterprises (SMMEs) and emerging contractors in terms of access to finance, he noted the historic partnership between the CIDB and Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) for construction industry financing mechanisms to focus on financing small and medium-sized contractors and cooperatives involved in the construction sector.

The partnership under consideration will see the CIDB contribute up to R150-million and Sefa matching that with R150-million over the medium term. The struggle faced by SMMEs in the construction sector required innovation, Zikalala said, noting that many collapse as they do not have access to finance and loans for building materials and other resources.

“We need to develop a finance institution led by the industry to support contractors,” he said.

TENDER CANCELLATIONS
Zikalala acknowledged that stakeholders had implored him to investigate and report on the escalating rate of the cancellation of tenders, especially big tenders by parastatals and institutions, which was costing the construction industry billions of rands. He noted reports that big State entities cancel tenders after contractors have spent money and time putting together infrastructure.

Moreover, the CIDB committed to looking into the practice whereby people charge low when tendering to rely on variation orders, noting that variation orders may need an independent process outside of the department.

MENTORING
Zikalala also raised concerns over the slow pace at which the built environment industry was advancing the career paths of professionals. He said the DPWI was worried over suspicions of gatekeeping.

He noted that over 30 000 professionals had been kept at the candidacy level for a longer period than expected, adding that there seemed to be no appetite to graduate them and empower them with skills relevant to their qualifications.

The DPWI, through the Council for the Built Environment (CBE), will seek to establish a national logbook to track progress in this area.

The CBE has also been tasked with standardising the process of how one obtains professional recognition within the industry. The CBE will seek to strengthen its relationships with tertiary institutions and councils to accelerate the preparation, mentoring and registration of students at lower academic levels.

SOCIAL FACILITATION 
To mitigate the disruption of construction sites, Zikalala said that the DPWI would intensify social facilitation and not make it a “by-the-way activity” but would rather make it an integral part in all project implementation, across all spheres of government.

It is expected that this will ensure community buy-in, involvement and beneficiation, which will isolate criminal elements.

He said all large projects should have empowerment elements which supported up-and-coming professionals, and that subcontracting and localisation would be compulsory.

In this regard, the DPWI will develop a national facilitation framework for the built industry, where law enforcement will be meted out to those engaged in criminal activity such as extortion and not wanting to genuinely participate in the construction sector.

Zikalala believed that social facilitation, localisation and subcontracting would ensure that criminal elements did not use the community to shield their criminal conduct.