A national infrastructure maintenance strategy for South Africa

Whereas in a country such as South Africa some public sector authorities are able to practise more or less competent management of their infrastructure assets, government intervention and assistance is needed in respect of many other authorities especially in respect of those at local government level. The National Infrastructure Maintenance Strategy sets overarching national policy for sectorbased initiatives, and describes the framework for a coordinated programme of actions. Simultaneous infrastructure investment and maintenance that will result from this strategy will not only improve infrastructure performance and underpin services sustainability, but will also contribute significantly towards national and local economic growth and will add long term jobs. Countries that do not enjoy the comprehensive information set upon which the Strategy was founded, should nonetheless make the start with such a strategy where they can, and set themselves on a path of steadily improving information and practice

An investigation of the franchising option for water services in South Africa

There is a need in South Africa for institutional innovations aimed at increasing the coverage of water services, and sustaining those services. The paper describes an investigation of an alternative service delivery institutional model, viz the franchising of water services. The paper describes the need for a franchise model that could be developed and made available to emerging entrepreneurs as the basis of a viable business. The franchise would be in respect of components of the water services value chain that are suitable for small business in that they can be readily systematised

The state of and sustainability of municipally-owned water services infrastructure in South Africa

The paper assesses the state of and sustainability of municipally-owned water services infrastructure in South Africa. It discusses some issues of concern that can be ascribed to infrastructure management policies and practices not meeting acceptable standards. The way forward is shown to legislative, financial accounting and other measures that would assist in greatly improving municipal infrastructure asset management

Evolution of the social franchising approach to water and sanitation maintenance in South Africa

The paper describes how the innovative social franchising partnership approach to the routine maintenance of sanitation and water infrastructure has evolved over a period of 15 years, from its origins in research into the condition of infrastructure, through three successive research projects including pilots on the maintenance of low-technology sanitation facilities, to implementation. The paper also describes the business procedures, the lessons learned from these pilots, and the first large-scale implementation contracts. Whereas other approaches to improve service delivery have also built capacity and developed skills, many of them have had limited success because they have not enjoyed sufficiently strong incentive structures and support systems. In contrast, the very practical social franchising partnership approach is built on a robust foundation of mutual support and incentives

Reporting the condition of South Africa's water sector infrastructure

The purpose of the “national infrastructure report cards” of the condition of engineering infrastructure in South Africa has been to draw the attention of government, and of the South African public at large to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the state of repair of infrastructure. The success of these report cards, published in 2006 and 2011, has been such that a new report card is currently being prepared. Whereas completion of this, the third report card, will not take place until around mid-year, the objective of this paper is to briefly describe the background to and purpose of infrastructure report cards and the process by which the South African report cards are compiled, to discuss key findings of the previous report cards, and to describe the third report card’s preliminary findings for the water sector

Piloting franchising O&M partnerships: connecting unrelated concepts, to create something innovative

Partnerships, using the basic principles of franchising, could address many challenges in the operation and/or maintenance of water services. Franchising provides appropriate training to people at services sites, and also offers backup off-site skills, with incentives for finding people with the appropriate skills required. The innovative franchising partnership concept is being piloted with considerable success in South Africa. Under the guidance of a franchisor, trainee franchisees are well advanced with initial cleaning and the routine maintenance of the sanitation facilities at 400 schools in the Eastern Cape. Irish Aid is funding concept development, while the franchisees are paid by the provincial Department of Education from the normal departmental budgets for operation and maintenance. Services delivery has shown such a marked improvement that the Department is requesting rollout to a further 1000 schools

An assessment by the engineering professionals of the condition of infrastructure in South Africa

In 2006 the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) released the first ever “report card” of the state of engineering infrastructure in South Africa. This report highlighted “the observations of the professionals responsible for the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of our nation’s life-support system”. It graded infrastructure on a scale from A+ through E-. The purpose of the report card was to draw the attention of government, and of the public at large, to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the state of repair of infrastructure. The success of this report card was such that SAICE, with the assistance of CSIR, has prepared the next report card, to appear early in April 2011. It is anticipated that this next report card will be even more widely debated, because, since 2006, service delivery problems, particularly those attributable to operation and maintenance of infrastructure, have received heightened attention across the country

An exploration of franchising partnerships for the operation and maintenance of water services infrastructure

South African research has found that franchising partnerships could alleviate and address many challenges in the operation and maintenance of water services infrastructure. Franchising brings appropriate training to those on-site, and also offers backup off-site skills together with the incentive to both call for those skills and to make them available. Findings indicate that many opportunities lie in the franchising of suitable elements in the water services value chain, and a selection of these has been modelled on paper. The findings of this research, and that from the continuation of this programme over the next three years, could well be applicable in other nations

Where there's muck, there's brass: creating sustainable franchise micro-businesses to do water services operation and maintenance in South Africa

Partnerships, using the basic principles of social franchising, could address many challenges in the operation and/or maintenance of water services. Development of this concept is in South Africa moving from research, through pilots, into practice. Under the guidance of a franchisor, trainee franchisees undertook the routine servicing of the on-site sanitation facilities at 400 schools in the Eastern Cape, paid by the provincial Department of Education (DoE) from the normal departmental budgets for operation and maintenance. Despite difficulties arising directly from DoE inefficiencies, the pilot project has proven the value of social franchising partnerships for this kind of work – the DoE now has a model it intends to roll out to most of the more than 6000 schools across the province. Meantime, the franchisees have undertaken the routine servicing of several hundred household toilets, and much more of the same type of work for municipalities, is being lined up

Capacity building in the engineering environment: the WFEO guidebook

The Standing Committee on Engineering Capacity Building of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) in October 2010 launched the first edition of a guidebook setting out its understanding of the challenges and complexities facing the engineering community regarding capacity and sustainability issues. The guidebook suggests approaches to the building of human resources and capability, and presents a collection of philosophies, programmes, initiatives and good practices collated from the experiences of a range of engineering organisations and engineering professionals