The Civil Engineering Contractor March 2018 | Page 10

INFRASTRUCTURE AFRICA SOUTHERN AFRICA SOUTH AFRICA Bureau Veritas invests in SA Johannesburg, especially to service the growing demand for pesticide testing. “We are also investing in Mozambique. Last year, we invested a lot in a laboratory in Temba for graphite mines, and are now investing in Tete for coal analysis,” he said. Roussel said South Africa is a key market in Africa for Bureau Veritas because of the size of its economy, while the maturity of the economy also had a huge impact on the volume of business it was able to secure. Roussel said southern Africa accounted for about a quarter of Bureau Veritas’ business in Africa, but there was still room to do a lot more business in South Africa, because there were still some areas of its services that were not yet available in the country that were well developed elsewhere in the world. Sal Govender, the recently appointed vice-president for Bureau Veritas Southern Africa, said they had started establishing a construction business in South Africa and planned to have the required manpower in place and start operations in the first quarter of this year. Govender said they were targeting municipalities and city entities, such as the City of Johannesburg and its ageing structures. She said the inspection and analysis of structures with recommendations for urban renewal, gentrification, and regeneration would be a huge focus. Source: Business Report  Global testing, inspection, and certification company Bureau Veritas invested several million euros in South Africa last year as it expanded its pr