Civil Engineering July 2022 | Vol 30 No 6

Civil Engineering July 2022 1 A s an academic, I oversaw running my university’s “Professional Practice” course for a number of years. During the initial planning I decided that the course needed to start with a ‘big bang’. I looked for a project in South Africa that had been implemented well, where competent engineers had created extraordinary infrastructure. Now, mentioning this project does not take away from the marvel- lous stadia, dams and other mega infrastructure built in the country, but as a transport engineer most of my friends in industry were in that field, so I knocked on the door of Gautrain. For years I saw Jack van der Merwe or William Dachs (they alternated their visits) capture the imagination of the final year students, generating an eagerness to get into the industry and start creating. Stories about why the Gautrain was developed, finding funding to start the project, the total number of people on site and land ownership litigation were fascinating. Jack and William also explained technical details around the need for a joint venture, the type of project contract, and Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment, among others. Most breathtaking (the class would literately go silent) was when they explained that, at the height of construction, they had to spend R3 million per hour to stay on schedule. Effective project management, not only during the planning and implementation of a project, but also during its operation, as demonstrated by Gautrain, leads to world-class infrastructure. This was demon- strated by the fact that Gautrain, seven years into operation, was the only A-graded infrastructure in the country in the SAICE 2017 Infrastructure Report Card 1 . WHEN PROJECT MANAGEMENT FALLS SHORT Unfortunately, not all mega projects in our country unfold as successfully as the Gautrain. Probably one of the most criticised South African mega projects is Medupi. A greenfield coal-fired power plant located in Lephalale, Limpopo, Medupi is the first dry-cooled baseload station built by Eskom, with a planned operational life of 50 years. Construction activities commenced in May 2007 with an initial price tag of R79 billion. The first of six units was planned to generate power by the end of 2014. This was not met and in 2020 the project still had not been completely commissioned 2 . According to Mail & Guardian 3 , the costs have escalated to roughly R143 billion (some sources even indicate R300 billion). Tshidavhu & Khatleli (2020) 2 conducted a study to assess the causes of cost and schedule overruns in South African critical construction mega projects, using Medupi as the case study. The findings revealed that the top challenges in the successful implementation of this and other mega projects were poor site management, inadequate managerial skills, poor monitoring and control, unstable management structure, poor organ- isation structure, and lack of experience. BUILDING PROJECT MANAGEMENT SKILLS Based on the literature and various projects I have seen unfold during my career, it can be concluded that project management, specifically managing mega projects, is complex, to say the least. However, careful plan- ning and appropriate risk assessment help. Furthermore, SAICE has a suite of activities to uplift the construction industry. The Project Management and Construction Division (PMCD) has been preparing a CPD-accredited entry level project management course aimed at technical people who have an engineering back- ground but no formal project management training. The course will allow the attendee to understand project management skills that they can use immediately upon return to their workplace. Furthermore, the Contractual Affairs Sub-Committee (CAS) that works with the PMCD has been revising the General Conditions of Contract for Construction Works (GCC) to add aspects that will keep the document up to date. CAS intends to finalise and issue the GCC 2022 before the end of the year. CAS also plans to run a series of presentations around the country that will highlight the changes made to the GCC 2022 versus the previous edition. Look out for communications about this, and we hope to see all of you at one of these events. REFERENCES SAICE 2017 Infrastructure Report Card for South Africa. 2017. South African Institution of Civil Engineering. https://saice.org.za/wp- content/uploads/2017/09/SAICE-IRC-2017.pdf . Tshidavhu, F. & Khatleli, N. 2020. An assessment of the causes of schedule and cost overruns in South African megaprojects: A case of the critical energy sector projects of Medupi and Kusile. Acta Structilia, 27(1), pp. 119–143. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.18820/24150487/as27i1.5 . Mail & Guardian. 2019. Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile to cost R36bn to complete, will not be halted – Mabuza. https://mg.co.za/ article/2019-04-04-eskoms-medupi-and-kusile-to-cost-r36bn-to- complete-will-not-be-halted-mabuza/ . Prof. Marianne Vanderschuren SAICE President 2022 marianne.vanderschuren@uct.ac.za From the Pres ident ’ s desk Project management, does it matter?