Consulting engineers have urged the North West government to ensure continuity in infrastructure development and service delivery without disruptions.
The group gathered in Mahikeng on Tuesday to discuss ways to help the government address public logistics infrastructure, including roads, rail and ports, alongside widespread disarray in essential services such as healthcare facilities, schools, and water and sanitation services.
They said ensuring seamless progress in these areas was essential for sustaining momentum, economic growth and meeting society’s needs.
They say the province’s dire situation necessitates urgent attention and decisive action to address these multifaceted infrastructure shortcomings.
The engineers said the state of infrastructure in North West has taken a heavy toll on communities and businesses.
They urged local and provincial authorities to harness the expertise of consulting engineering firms to bridge these gaps.
The CEO at Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa), Chris Campbell, said despite all the problems and challenges, the organisation believes the glass is half full.
“There must be hope, and we need to collaborate between the government and private sector,” he said.
“I think the time for the government to assume that they alone can solve this problem has come to an end; it has to be in conjunction with all other parties in the country, business and even communities.”
Time to press reset button
Campbellsaid it was time to reset the button. “We have the skills and the ability, and if we bring on board the funding agencies, together with the government, we can resolve this.”
Responding to the engineers, the director of infrastructure at the provincial treasury department, Lereko Leeu, said for the province to have a proper infrastructure network that works and serves the communities, public-private partnership was critical.
“As a government, we might not have all the skills internally to run infrastructure. We cannot, as the government, have everything.
“But we can tap into those that are in [the] space and have the skills to assist the government to get infrastructure going, and that is the critical thing that needs to be looked at,” he said.
Leeu said there was no continuity of projects and that the issue of continuity was critical.
“Until we get to that level of thinking where we say government business continues, government business never stops because we have a new appointee in the office, government business remains business and business has to continue.”
Cesa said it hopes to raise awareness and plant a seed so that somebody out there who is listening will take it to heart, respond, and reach out.
