Download MEC Mamabolo delivered speech at Construction Summit

SPEECH
ADDRESS BY MEC JACOB MAMABOLO ON
BEHALF OF THE PREMIER OF GAUTENG, DAVID
MAKHURA, AT THE FIFTH CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT SUMMIT HOSTED BY THE SOUTH
AFRICAN COUNCIL OF THE PROJECT AND
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONS;
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
28 June 2016
Programme Director
The President of the South African Council of the Project and
Construction Management Professions, Mr Manchidi and
your leadership collective
Professor Sinha, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of
Engineering and Built Environment at UJ
Leaders and representatives of business
Officials from government
Delegates to the Summit
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Thank you for affording us the opportunity to address this
important gathering of practitioners and stakeholders in the
Construction Industry and the Construction Management
discipline.
Gathered here are men and women who carry the enormous
responsibility to drive the growth, transformation,
sustainability and global competitiveness of our construction
industry.
Allow me to take this opportunity to convey the sincere
apology of the Premier of Gauteng, David Makhura, who
could not join us on this occasion due to other pressing work
commitments.
I however bring with me Premier Makhura’s best wishes to
this Summit. We will follow closely deliberations at this
Summit and we look forward to its outcome.
I am humbled, therefore, on behalf of the Premier and the
government of Gauteng to welcome all the delegates to this
Summit.
I welcome you to the Gauteng City Region, South Africa’s
economic engine contributing 35% to total GDP; 8 to 10% to
Africa’s GDP; 40% to national employment; 42% to total
industrial output; 63% to national exports; a leading
subnational destination for Foreign Direct Investment into
Africa and a home to 45% of all SMMEs in the country.
As stakeholders and practitioners in the construction industry,
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that we in the
Gauteng City Region value the contribution made by your
industry into our economy. Gauteng is the home of the
construction industry!
This is particularly the case since in
accounted for 43%, amounting to R
construction industry’s total output. In,
in our province there is evidence that
massive and growing construction site.
2013 Gauteng alone
169.6 billion, of the
addition every-where
Gauteng is indeed a
In the words of Premier David Makhura when he delivered
the State of the Province Address early this year; “Let the
cranes continue to go up everywhere in the province. Let the
construction work intensify!”
Accordingly and in line with our New Economic Plan for the
Gauteng City Region, which we will unveil next month, the
Construction and Real Estate industry is one of the
industries, sectors and subsectors that we will continue to
privilege as part of our on-going efforts to reignite our
economy, placing it on a sustainable and inclusive growth
path as well as to advance economic transformation,
empowerment, innovation and invention.
It is to us a matter of serious concern that the construction
industry’s contribution to the economy of the Gauteng City
Region is currently on the decline. For instance the growth in
the construction sector’s Goss Value Added declined
substantially from a peak of 2.6% in 2013 to an estimated
1.3% in 2015.
We are also deeply concerned by indications that in the first
quarter of 2016, Gauteng lost a significant number of jobs in,
among others, the construction industry. In that period we
lost a total of more than 195 000 jobs, with construction jobs
being among the major casualties.
We are alive to the reality that the construction industry is
currently in a phase of low growth and employment in its
business cycle. We are however optimistic about the
industry’s prospects.
We are also confident that gatherings of this nature will
strengthen on-going efforts to turn around the fortunes of this
industry.
We are thus encouraged that this Summit will spend time
deliberating, exchanging ideas, sharing experiences and best
practise, as well as formulating proposals to address
challenges facing the industry including transformation,
project delays and cost overruns, the skills challenge, the
economic, social and environmental sustainability of projects
as well as the need to build an ethical, professional industry
anchored by a culture of high performance.
Programme Director, we wish to caution this Summit not to
succumb to the temptation to use the current weak state of
the construction industry as an excuse to reverse the gains
made thus far in effecting transformational change in the
industry, as part of normalising our country’s economic
landscape.
To us, transformation is a non-negotiable! To us nothing is as
urgent as the need to push ahead, more vigorously, with
radical social and economic transformation. This must include
responding to the disparity in skills between the various
sectors of our society, which continues to condemn many of
our people to the margins of our economy.
Indeed nothing short of a skills revolution will help us address
some of the skills challenges we face as a country!
This Summit must also help the construction industry to
continue implementing projects in a manner that is
environmentally sustainable. This is particularly important to
us in Gauteng given our determination to pursue a growth
that that is smart, green and ecologically sustainable.
We pride ourselves that it now takes us 90 days to finalise
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA’s). This is the
shortest time it takes in the country. Our goal, going forward,
is to process EIA’s within 30 days.
We believe by doing this we are reducing the cost and
ensuring ease of doing business in particular for firms in the
construction and related industries. We are also positioning
ourselves as a competitive investment destination for these
companies, both locally and internationally.
We look up to this Summit to help us strengthen efforts
towards our collective goal of delivering construction projects
on time and within budget. This is major challenge that we in
government are continuing to deal with on a daily basis. We
need the private sector to come on board, so that together we
can eliminate this scourge.
Issues of professionalism, quality and ethical conduct need
our continuous attention, for it is only when the industry’s
credibility is beyond reproach that the levels of trust and
partnerships with the industry can thrive. Once again we look
up to this Summit to provide further guidance in this regard.
Programme Director, despite the challenges currently facing
the construction industry, in Gauteng cranes are up and
construction is underway on major projects as we, together
with the private sector, build new post-apartheid mega cities
and human settlements in places such as Savannah City,
Sandton City, Steyn City, Waterfall City, Tshwane West
Capital, and Africa Gateway in Centurion.
In addition, initial work regarding the development of the new
Lanseria Airport City and Vaal River City has started.
As the provincial government we are also spending more R
7.2 billion to upgrade our major roads network, in order to
improve mobility and ensure integration of all our
development corridors.
In total as the provincial government we will, over the next
there years, spend R 32 billion on developing our
infrastructure focusing on improving our energy security,
Information and Communications Technologies, improving
public transport and ensuring water and sanitation security.
Equally, our municipalities, especially our Metro’s – the City
of Joburg, the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Thswane –
will spend in excess of R 32 billion on infrastructure
development over the next four years.
We estimate that, over the next 10 to 15 years, we will
require in excess of R 1.6 trillion to provide for all our social
and economic infrastructure requirements. In this regard we
are working with the private sector to implement a 15-year
Infrastructure Development Master Plan which we launched
early this month.
I am mentioning all of these things to indicate, once again,
that Gauteng is one massive construction site and will remain
so for some time to come.
Programme Director, due to our strategic location, our state
of the art, world class social and economic infrastructure as
well as many other comparative and competitive advantages
inherent in our City Region, Gauteng is Gateway to the
African Continent.
It is for this reason that many firms, including those pursuing
opportunities to the north of our borders, choose to locate in
Gauteng. Currently many large and small as well foreign and
local companies are headquartered in Gauteng.
In addition as Gauteng we have taken a conscious decision,
as part of our overall commitment to transforming,
modernising and re-industrializing our economy, to take a
lead in Africa’s new industrial revolution.
This means we are deliberate in our efforts to create
opportunities for Gauteng based companies to take part in
the major value and supply chain, especially within the SADC
region. We want Gauteng based companies to be among the
major drivers of the Africa rise narrative.
I am raising all of this to highlight a major opportunity that
those in the construction and related industries can take
advantage of. According to Ernst & Young’s 2014 Africa
Attractiveness Survey, the cost of addressing Africa’s
“infrastructure deficit” is estimated to be approximately US$
90 billion every year for the next decade.
In addition, it is estimated that in 2013 alone, there were 339
mining projects at various stages of development across
SADC. This presents massive opportunities for companies in
the mining, construction and related industries. We are
prepared to work with Gauteng based companies as they
seek to access these and many other opportunities on the
Continent.
As I conclude, let me reiterate our message to this Summit.
Our message is that the Gauteng City Region is the home of
the construction industry; Gauteng is open for business and
as government we are ready to work with the industry to
address its challenges and unlock its full potential as a
significant contributor to economic growth and employment.
I wish you a successful Summit
Thank you.