Consulting engineering firms have been encouraged to form intra and inter-regional partnerships to work on infrastructure projects across the African continent.

Kofi Asare-Yeboah, the chairperson of the Group of African Member Associations (Gama) of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (Fidic), said working together would overcome difficulties and complications around identifying, funding and implementing projects.

He said no single country in Africa had the right number or strength of indigenous consulting firms to undertake the multiplicity of infrastructure development projects on the continent.

Asare-Yeboah told the twenty-fourth annual Fidic-Gama conference in Cape Town that infrastructure development projects, which increasingly involve a multidisciplinary approach, relied heavily on the consulting engineering industry.

“If the continent is to make significant strides on its development agenda, it is necessary for Africa’s indigenous consulting engineering firms to rise to the challenge.”

Hubert Danso of Africa Investor, said Africa was one of the only continents to have more international than domestic-led projects. Giving access to the private sector to apply for the funds could also be game-changing.  Danso said the private sector generally did not lobby institutions, as it left it up to the government to do so.

During a panel on infrastructure funding and investments, Christie Viljoen of KPMG suggested that there should be a database of projects listing African successes for potential clients to consider.

Strengthening partnerships with related professionals, such as architects and lawyers, was also essential, Fidic VP Moncef Ziani told the around 250 delegates to the conference.

The conference comes at a difficult time for Africa, and South Africa in particular.

The ratings downgrades in South Africa, as well as low economic growth is expected to impact the construction industry, with investments likely to drop and borrowing to rise, said Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) president Lynne Pretorius.

“We meet at a time when the environment in which we are conducting our business is extremely challenging. South Africa has its own economic challenges currently, along with various social and political dynamics. These are all mirrored to some extent in the rest of Africa, as well as in the rest of the world.”

Pretorius told Engineering News Online that companies had to take heed of standards on transparency.

“Challenges around procurement and corruption are a shadow hanging over the industry. We can’t just point fingers. It takes two to tango. We must acknowledge this as consulting engineers.”

She said she was pleased that the National Treasury had set standards for infrastructure projects, which would allow for more transparency and control. The procurement of professional services had also been separated from general goods and services. This would ensure more checks and balances and help to root out corruption.

Despite worries about the shortage of engineering skills in Africa, Pretorius said she was very encouraged by the new waves of young engineers, who had great energy and a positive attitude.