03 Apr 2019

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing Development is undergoing a restructuring exercise.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, Minister Vincent Seretse said the initiative would see the ministry operating a leaner structure with more focus on policy and regulatory aspects of its mandate, which had hitherto been relegated as more attention was given to operational matters.

Mr Seretse stated that the Department of Building and Engineering Services (DBES) had been reconfigured and split into two, with one department focusing on project development and facilities management and the other on planning and pre-contract services like project design and all processes necessary to facilitate project commencement.

He stated that they would introduce a new department to facilitate research work on all aspects of their mandate relating to infrastructure housing as well as the human resource matters in order to advice the ministry and government on the direction that should be taken to enhance efficiency and innovation.

He said the implementation of the new structure would commence during the 2019/2020 financial year, adding that processes meant to have the new structure in full operation have started.

He highlighted that all staff have been informed and processes were ongoing to inform all other stakeholders, adding that the implementation would be undertaken in phases over a period of time.

He said completion would be dependent on feedback from ministries, who may wish to absorb some of the artisan staff following the decentralisation of maintenance services and projects of up to P100 million to them. 

Meanwhile, Mr Seretse said the ministry continues to implement initiatives geared towards transformation of the construction industry, revealing that it has enacted laws meant to create an enabling environment.

He said such laws relate to registration of professionals in the construction industry including engineers, architects and quantity surveyors. He stated that registration of all those professionals was ongoing and urged them to register in large numbers. Mr Seretse pointed out that it was illegal for any engineer or architect to practice without being registered, highlighting that so far 5000 engineers and nearly 300 architects had registered since the commencement of the Act.

He further said quantity surveyors commenced registration early this year and that so far 10 Quantity Surveying professionals have registered, while processing of other applications continues. ends