29 Mar 2015

Challenges relating to poor execution, late delivery of projects, cost overruns and corruption in the industry sector have left Botswana’s legacy with a burden on the economy that will forever be there, says Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology.

Officiating at the Association of Consulting Engineers of Botswana (ACEB) annual general meeting, Minister Nonofo Molefhi said government had taken a deliberate action to address challenges that were troubling the industry.

“My ministry has established three registration boards to register all experts of the Built environment and we have also gone a step further and developed a policy, legal and regulatory instruments to guide and regulate the professional conduct of all experts of the Built environment to ensure compliance,” he said.

He further said the Engineers Registration Board commenced the process of registration in the first quarter of 2014 and the law came into force on April 1. Mr Molefhi indicated that the ministry had also launched the Quantity Survey Council and Architect Registration Council and registration will soon be commencing subsequent to which the law will also come into force.

“It is my hope that this time next year, we will know who the real professionals are and my expectation is that this will also be reflected in the outputs,” said Minister Molefhi.
He stated that government always without fail put up robust manpower resources to watch its projects, however, a lot has gone wrong irrespective.

“I could mention projects, but this is neither the time nor the place to apportion blame. However I would like to call upon you to introspect and guide government on how best to deal with these issues,” he said.

Speaking on developments that government is putting in place to regulate the construction industry, Mr Molefhi said the advancement brings with it a number of benefits as well as dis-benefits.

“The benefits are obvious in that the process will be selective but the downside is that it will greatly reduce capacity as some of the engineers may not meet the mark,” he said, adding that he hopes the AGM will chart a way forward on how government can improve on partnership with the private sector to ensure effective delivery on government’s mandate.
Minister Molefhi further called on the captains of the construction industry to strategise and re-engineer their processes in light of all the advancements to ensure that the industry is ready to receive all the new developments.

“I would like to call upon BOCCIM to lead in all these and trust that associations such as ACEB and sister institutions will also take their rightful places and contribute positively to the betterment of the construction industry,” he said.

Mr Molefhi further said he is aware that there are a number of issues troubling professionals in the construction industry which mainly have to do with low job opportunities. He said he has always shown concern regarding companies that win mega tenders and then do not give a chance to our very own young professionals who would greatly benefit from the work experience, adding he has called on such companies to give locals a chance instead of bringing non-citizens who then benefit

For his part, president of BOCCIM, Mr Lekwalo Mosienyane encouraged ACEB members to partner with international firms because of the size of Botswana’s economy and the fact that some may be lacking in the required experience.

“I am not saying government should bring international consultants to Botswana to do your work, but rather you partner with those international firms and as such we avoid conflict,” he said.

He said graduates should be enrolled in projects so that they can be able to learn from experienced engineers who have been in the field for a long time.

“We need to reward companies that trust and engage our local young talents and also we need to reward excellence of our engineers,” he said.

Mr Mosienyane said local companies need to export their services and grow their clientele. He further said for operations provided in Botswana to be sustainable, they must possess international experience and exposure.

“I am looking forward to the day when a local engineering firm will flourish in international markets such as Chile and India just to name but a few,” he said. He called on government to hire engineers who know what it is that needs to be done when overseeing projects.

“There is absolutely no point in having someone from government tasked with overseeing a project and they in turn do not know what it is that a contractor needs to be doing,” he said, adding that is one of the major reasons government is losing a lot of money of failed projects. ENDS