Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
Has South Africa overinvested in the 2010 FifaSoccer World Cup at the cost of a post-2010 vision?
M inister in the Presidency: National Planning, Trevor Manuel, recently set the cat among the pigeons when he warned that the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup-related infrastructure and construction projects were nearing completion and that South Africa urgently needed to identify new projects.
With infrastructure spending of R787 billion being at the core of South Africa’s response to the global economic crisis, Manuel said it was imperative that new projects be identified urgently for the next phase of infrastructure development.
“It will determine what happens to all of these workers employed in infrastructure delivery for 2010”.
Manuel made the remarks after presenting his Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) in July.
He listed 10 priorities in the MTSF, among them the development of economic and social infrastructure and rural development.
Manuel noted in the MTSF that the aim is to ensure sustained investment growth over the medium term so as to achieve the target of a fixed investment ratio above 25% of gross domestic product by 2014.
“Such projects will be spatially referenced, planned for and implemented in an integrated manner.
“In addition, we will continue with programmes to provide and maintain health, education, library, sporting, recreation and other social infrastructure,” he said.
With between 10 and 15 million South Africans living in areas that are characterised by extreme poverty and underdevelopment, he said it was also the government’s objective to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy of rural development.
This all implies more projects ahead.
Yet Manuel later added that there were constraints to new projects, such as the pricing of new infrastructure. But he was particularly concerned that there were not more ideas arising, appealing for “continual waves” of new projects to be proposed.
Will South Africa indeed run out of projects after completion of the 2010 ones?
No, says JC Kruger of Greybeards Inc and the vice president for professional liaison at Project Management South Africa (PMSA). Kruger says projects may be reduced in number, but will not “dry up” as long as a country has a positive growth rate.
“I believe he (Manuel) may have referred to infrastructure type projects. Believe me, there are many other projects which will continue to be developed.”
The latter is echoed by others.
Jeff Shaw, a director at KPMG responsible for project advisory services, says apart from the 2010-linked infrastructure projects, there are many more infrastructure projects in the pipeline in respect of the government’s R787-billion infrastructure programme.
There are many other potential projects to be found in, for example, water reticulation, electricity, rural roads and dams, mining, electricity among many others, he says.
Dennis Comninos, an international author, consultant and lecturer in PM who also teaches at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, says the world is changing, new economics are entering the picture, and with change there are new needs – which is where PM comes in.
“Maybe the focus will shift to other projects instead of engineering. The 2010 projects are about construction, engineering and IT. But there are many other areas for new projects. There will be a diversion of projects to the social sphere, poverty alleviation, unemployment, improving hospitals, and so on.”
Kruger believes new projects will be initiated by the same sources that have initiated projects to date, regardless of which economic sector.
For example, mining projects should be on the increase soon, as commodity prices increase. Power supply projects can only go in one direction: up.
More and more cars are produced worldwide. That will ensure steel and rubber and platinum and aluminium, among others, will stay in demand. Only projects can create the new facilities to produce these, he says.
With banking becoming more sophisticated by the day, changes will have to be managed by project managers, adds Kruger.
With more demands on social systems, he says only project managers can effectively manage the changes needed to stay abreast.
“Just imagine the serious load on us once Zimbabwe comes out of its problems,” he adds.
A number of PM experts to whom we spoke, see a shortage of skilled and experienced project managers, or financial concerns, as more serious potential restraints than any shortage of potential projects or ideas.
However, all were confident that South Africa has sufficient skills to complete the 2010-linked projects successfully before moving on to other projects.
“In my opinion, we do not have a skills shortage, but rather many misplaced skills,” says Dr Erik Schmikl, who heads Synerlead International and teaches at Cranefield College, a Pretoria-based project and programme management institution.
“But,” he adds, “the drying up (of projects) after the 2010 World Cup remains a challenge, as few people have put thought to what comes next to fill the vacuum. Project and programme management is not merely construction work. It is much more.”
Trevor Lake, who lectures PM at Wits Business School in Johannesburg and is chief operations officer of IdeaSource – a company involved in software consulting and project financing – says he detects a proliferation of project operations and a corresponding demand for PM skills from diverse operations such as pharmaceuticals, advertising and even the legal profession.
“I am finding that more organisations are now aware of the potential benefits of a project management approach to resolving problems and re-engineering business processes.”
This, he says, has led to a growing demand for project management skills.
But once the 2010-linked projects are completed, the infrastructure skills may look elsewhere, e.g. the developing world, where many projects are becoming available, or may go into business for themselves.
But, he says, opportunities will arise in South Africa from a looming water crisis, the housing programme, food security and the environment.
Perhaps Manuel need not worry. But what is required now – perhaps justifying some of Manuel’s concern – is that far more specifics and detailed proposals be added to this abundance of vaguely outlined areas of possible opportunity.
Stef Terblanche
