Civil Engineering June 2021 | Vol 29 No 5

48 June 2021 Civil Engineering Unemployment numbers reflect depressed economic environment The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey data released by Stats SA, indicating an unemployment level of 32.6%, reflects the deep impact of Covid-19 restrictions on South African employment and overall economic activity across all major economic sectors, says the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern African (SEIFSA). According to StatsSA, South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 32.6% in Q1 2021 from 32.5% in the previous quarter. It is the highest jobless rate in 13 years and comes amid the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, which has contributed to the depressed economic environment, resulting in low investment activity. Construction recorded the biggest employment decline, with 87 000 jobs lost, followed by trade (84 000) and private households (70 000). The level of unemployment in South Africa is far above other economies with which we are in an economic development partnership, such as Brazil (14.7%), China (5.3%), India (6.5%) and Russia (5.2%). SEIFSA Chief Economist Chifipa Mhango says the number of jobs lots in key demand driving sectors of the metals and engineering (M&E) sector such as construction is worrying. He believes that government and the private sector need to work together to stimulate the economy and create jobs. “Investment- driven economic recovery is key, and the government needs to promote investor confidence by speedily implementing its eco- nomic revival plans, including the R791.2 billion of public sector infrastructure development over the next three fiscal years.” Mhango says the contribution of the M&E sector remains key to job creation, yet it shed 35 000 jobs last year alone. Persistent challenges faced by businesses in the M&E sector, such as high electricity costs, unreliable energy supply, disruption in raw mate- rial supply, rising logistics costs, and imports have continued to weigh negatively on the industry, thus affecting job creation and its overall contribution to manufacturing sector employment. “It is, therefore, important that the government and all industry stakeholders continue to engage with each other on how to address these challenges,” says Mhango, adding that such partnerships will also ensure that other interventions such as the Steel Master Plan are quickly finalised and implemented.  Polihali Transfer Tunnel construction tender launched The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) has entered an important milestone in the procurement of Phase II major works construction contracts, with the advertisement of the tender for the construction of the Polihali Transfer Tunnel. The tender for the Polihali Dam construction will follow shortly. Excavated using boring and drill and blast methods, the Polihali Transfer Tunnel will be 38 km long with a 5 m nominal bore. It will transfer water by gravity from Polihali to the Katse reservoir. The Polihali Dam will create a reservoir on the Senqu and Khubelu rivers with an estimated surface area of 5 053 ha and a full supply storage capacity of 2 325 million m 3 . The flow from the Polihali reservoir through the transfer tunnel will increase the volume of water in the Katse Dam. The current water transfer volumes of 780 million m 3 /year to the Gauteng region will incrementally increase to 1 270 million m 3 /‌year and will simultaneously increase the electricity generation at the ‘Muela hydropower plant, a further step in the process of securing an independent power supply to meet Lesotho’s domestic needs. “Our objective is to attract firms with experience in the construction of major underground works under complex geo- logical and geotechnical conditions, diverse environmental conditions, in remote areas and at high altitude. Equally important is to attract firms that have impeccable records in delivering projects of this magnitude within budget and the set timeframes,” says Tente Tente, CE of the LHDA. According to the current master pro- gramme, water delivery is scheduled for 2027. Timeous construction of the dam and transfer tunnel is critical to meeting the water delivery deadline of the project. Interested construction firms have until 30 August 2021 to submit tenders. Specific information on the requirements and condi- tions of the tender is available on the LHDA website: http://www.lhda.org.ls/tenderbul- letin/currentProcurement.aspx .   The construction sector has recorded 87 000 job losses Katse Dam (Credit: SkyPixels, Wikimedia Commons)