Chairman’s
report
The continuing negative
impacts of the Eskom
crisis will place increasing
pressure on professionals
to provide even more innovative and cost
effective project solutions if we, as a
country, strive to achieve anywhere near
the 6% targeted growth.
T
his challenge is further exacerbated by the
ongoing scarcity of technical skills, lack of public
and private sector Client capacity and competence
to support the delivery processes. This delivery is
also constricted by the lack of consistent application
and enforcement of Procurement legislation in the
public sector, although progress is being achieved
by the CIDB, with support of the Built Environment
Professionals in promoting improvements to existing
procedures.
SBA and Munitech exhibit at
IMESA Conference at the
Durban ICC
SBA and Munitech had a stand at the IMESA conference, which was
held at Durban’s ICC in October 2007. This high profile conference was
attended by over 700 delegates from Southern Africa and the rest of
the world.
“
W
e regard IMESA (Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa) as one of
the most relevant institutions in the sectors in which SBA and Munitech operate,”
says Sid Turner, SBA’s national operations director. “This conference provided an excellent
forum for sharing service delivery experiences and networking with colleagues and clients.
What is unique is that through SBA and Munitech, the B&A Group is able to offer both
infrastructure engineering and project management as well as operations and maintenance
services to Municipal clients from one stable.”
SBA and Munitech are gold class Affiliate members of IMESA.
Standing:
Max Stemele (SBA),
Andrew Copley
(Ethekwini Water and
member of the
conference
Organising
Committee),
Sid Turner (SBA) and
Steve McCarley
(Munitech).
Seated: Felicity
Hunter (B&A Group)
and Jason Holder
(SBA).
As a consequence of these issues, professionals are
still expected to offer competitive (no problem here),
but often highly reduced fees in response to poorly
worded tender enquiries and in particular, Scope of
Service documents.
If we are to take the leading role expected of us in
supporting economic growth, attracting, retaining
and developing existing skills and at the same time
provide a quality and value-adding service, we need
to quickly move away from the view that price and
not quality, is the differentiation of services.
Within the B&A Group, we continue to place emphasis
on quality and value for fees. We also want to retain
the concept that our Clients are also our partners
and that constructive relationships lead to more
successful projects.
It is appreciated that compliance with changing
legislation is a challenge to all. Working together for
mutual benefit is our preferred solution.
I trust that you will find this issue of Enginuity both
interesting and informative about the diverse activities
of the Group companies.
In the next edition, we will celebrate the 20 th
anniversary of the formation of Munitech. We also
expect to be able to report on our formal BEE rating,
which is scheduled for March 2008.
On page 9 in this edition of Enginuity there is a tribute
to Sean Reilly, MD of Munitech and B&A Group Board
Director who passed away on 4th January 2008 after
an extended and brave fight against cancer.
Sean was one of those people who came along only
every so often, who saw solutions, not problems and
who provided answers not questions.
Churchi