Engineering
KwaZulu-Natal’s engineering sector is well equipped to service the province’s varied economy.
KwaZulu-Natal is home to several large-scale processing plants that require high-end engineering skills: aluminium smelters in Richards Bay and steel works in Newcastle, Richards Bay and Cato Ridge. Chemicals and plastics production plants and the automotive industry also provide many opportunities for engineers of every sort.
As in most parts of South Africa, engineers are in short supply in the province. The provincial government introduced in 2010 an Occupation Specific Dispensation for engineers and technicians in an attempt to retain skilled personnel. The provincial Department of Transport is supporting technical students by way of bursaries. Civil engineers have been busy with several large infrastructure projects in recent times: the King Shaka International Airport, capacity expansion at the Port of Durban and the Moses Mabhida Stadium for example.
Richards Bay Minerals awarded the contract to construct a Tailings Plant, in June 2009, to Stefanutti Stocks Civils KZN. The aim is for the mining company to be able to extract minerals more efficiently.
Although some economists suggested in early 2010 that bureaucratic bottlenecks in releasing government funds for infrastructure spending were negatively affecting the work of engineers and construction companies, most of the big companies reported good results in March 2010. As the Sunday Times put it, ‘strong results from companies like Basil Read and Wilson Bayly Homes-Ovcon (WBHO) indicated that they hardly seemed to notice’. Group Five reported a rise in earnings of eight percent and Murray & Roberts’ order book increased by 10%. Bulk earthworks and civil engineering group Protech Khuthele managed to increase turnover by 91% and operating profit by 61%, in the year to February 2009.
However, with private spending down because of the global economic downturn, and some of the country’s bigger projects being delayed, national government has moved to exercise some centralised control over infrastructure budgets in the provinces.
Water delivery has been the concern of many KwaZulu-Natal engineers: Eskom is building a pumpstorage facility at Ingula and bulk-water supplies from the Midmar Dam are being piped to Durban.
An engineering firm has taken a lead role in building skills in a rural development programme. Goba Consulting has a brief from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, which manages the World Heritage Site on KwaZulu- Natal’s north coast, to build infrastructure. The engineering consultancy’s mandate includes involving local people and small and micro-enterprises in the building and maintenance of roads.
