Five goes into one
POLICYMAKERS
Ngage Media Zone
The overall winner for the Infrastructure Category in the 2017 Fulton Awards was the Mount Edgecombe Interchange , submitted by SMEC South Africa as Principal Agent for the client , the South African National Roads Agency ( SOC ) Limited ( Sanral ). The Fulton Awards are awarded by CSSA .
Five goes into one
Five concrete and cement industry bodies aim to combine into one for greater efficiency and a single voice .
By the time this magazine is in readers ’ hands , the current representative organisations of the concrete and cement industries may be well on the way to becoming a single body . Speaking on behalf of one of the five , CEO and director of the Concrete Society of Southern Africa , John Sheath , explains the motivation for the move : “ Whereas industries such as timber and steel have a single industry body and have a single voice to talk to government and promote itself to industry , concrete and cement to date have not had that one monolithic identity .
“ There ’ s no question that it will happen — all the major role players have agreed . Therefore , it is simply the mechanics of bringing everything together , to which end we have several working committees on the various aspects . This is not a ‘ merger ’ in the sense of combining five different organisations ; the aim is to have one brand new organisation performing everything and more , that the five currently do ,” says Sheath .
The five organisations are :
• The Concrete Society of Southern Africa ( CSSA )
• The Concrete Institute ( TCI )
• The Southern African Readymix Association ( SARMA )
• Concrete Manufacturers Association ( CMA )
• Association of Cementitious Materials Producers ( ACMP )
The major stakeholders in these organisations are the six cement manufacturers : AfriSam , PPC , Lafarge , NPC , Sephaku / Dangote and a relative newcomer , Mamba . These companies are keen to reduce their corporate costs . “ All these companies tend to be approached by each of the concreterelated industry bodies for sponsorships , advertising support ( as some of the bodies also have their own publications ), and to become members . This is a result of considerable overlap between the concrete organisations ,” says Sheath .
Discussions started in earnest in October last year , having been mooted over the past four or five years , though nothing practical came of it , says Sheath . “ What is giving current impetus to the process is the tight economic conditions . All companies are looking to save every cost they can , and these include corporate memberships . However , it is about much more than costs . A single representative body will be far more efficient , a much stronger organisation mandated to speak on behalf of the industry with a single voice . Everything will be aligned , which will greatly assist in the focused marketing of concrete and cement .
“ In addition , it will be able to provide its ( expanded ) membership with a comprehensive range of services through one organisation , and also consolidate important aspects such as government liaison and technical research ,” Sheath continued .
4 - CEC September 2018