Civil Engineering December 2022 | Vol 30 No 11

Le t ter from the ed i tor Hello darkness, my old friend Civil Engineering December 2022 7 M ohamed Bassa is the 27th winner of R10 000 in SAICE’s monthly Know Your Sector Competition. He would like to spend some of the prize money on his family, donate some to charity, and save the rest. Mohamed, who recently obtained his professional registration with ECSA, currently works as a civil engineer in Zutari’s eThek- wini office in the Built Environment team. He started his career at Zutari (previously Aurecon) as a graduate in 2018 and has worked on many interesting projects since, the ma- jority of which have been water projects in the Eastern Cape. “Civil engineering has allowed me to impact the lives of those around us and that is what I enjoy most about my profession,” he says. Soccer is Mohamed’s weekly outlet. He also occasionally enjoys horse riding.  Ending the year with R10 000! N ews of intensified loadshedding and record levels of blackouts have dominated headlines recently as Eskom announced that it had depleted its diesel budget for the current financial year. According to the CSIR, this year has been the most intensive loadshedding year to date, with the collective amount of loadshedding in the three months of July to September 2022 being more than in any year before. SAICE’s 2022 Infrastructure Report Card (IRC) scored Eskom’s generating infrastructure as a D- which means it is not coping with normal demand, is poorly maintained, and is ulti- mately at risk of failure. The IRC highlights that some of the 15 thermal coal power stations owned and operated by Eskom are more than 50 years old and have been operated without sufficient maintenance and refurbishment. The report states that, “The consequent decline in energy availability has increased the severity of national grid loadshedding and forced greater usage of emergency diesel- powered open cycle gas turbines.” This reflects one of the main trends highlighted in the IRC: a lack of infrastructure maintenance. The report notes that, for most of our infrastructure, both local and international main- tenance targets are not remotely achieved. In fact, it states that, “Neglect of maintenance is the most persistent problem encoun- tered in all four IRCs to date. We have found that the majority of municipalities, and even provincial owners of infrastructure, continue to manage assets reactively, that is by responding to breakdowns or failures.” Overall, South Africa’s infrastructure received a grade of D. This has declined from the grade of D+ awarded in 2017. This deterioration is largely attributed to crime and non-payment for services as well as weak institutions lacking appropriate skills and accurate data which have all contributed towards a further decline in the overall condition of infrastructure. You can read more about the IRC gradings on page 8 of this issue of Civil Engineering or access the full 2022 IRC at saice.org.za/irc . While the situation is not a good one, South Africa is in the fortunate position of having a large number of highly skilled civil engineering professionals capable of addressing the country’s infrastructure challenges. Now more than ever the public and private sectors need to build relationships that will allow the two to partner to turn around the current state of our infrastructure. HAPPY HOLIDAYS This time of year offers the opportunity for rest and reflection. South Africans are nothing if not resilient, and while this year’s festive season may be a little darker than in years gone by, I would like to wish all of our readers a happy and safe holiday season. May we enter 2023 feeling renewed and ready to tackle the infra- structure challenges at hand. Overall, South Africa’s infrastructure received a grade of D. This has declined from the grade of D+ awarded in 2017. This deterioration is largely attributed to crime and non-payment for services as well as weak institutions lacking appropriate skills and accurate data which have all contributed towards a further decline in the overall condition of infrastructure. Danielle Petterson Editor Civil Engineering danielle@saice.org.za