LETTER: Why disrupt economic growth over tried-and-tested processes?

Although it comes as no surprise, we should all be concerned at the further delay in the awarding of R17.4bn in tenders to contractors by the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral). This is stressing the already constrained construction industry and affecting the economic growth and development of the country, and threatens the very existence of the consulting engineering industry, trusted advisers to clients such as Sanral.

In July, the Sanral board made a firm public commitment to award these tenders by the end of September at the latest. We are now nearing the end of October and have been informed that the tenders are currently still being adjudicated and Sanral is hoping to make the awards by the end of the month.

The decision to halt the awarding of R17.4bn in tenders to contractors does not make sense, as the “design engineer” or consulting engineer has no vested interest in the business of the contractor, added to which a consulting engineer has always played the role of trusted adviser to the client, in this case Sanral. The only time the two would be required to collaborate in such a manner would be when such a client requires a turnkey solution.

At the time we questioned whether it was worth disrupting the economic growth of the country over a process that for years has been tried and tested and is the very reason the consulting engineering industry exists. The Sanral board claimed in a meeting at the time that it had the right to be disruptive and so they were.

The question to be asked is at whose expense this was, when unemployment was already at 34.5% and youth unemployment at a staggering 63.9%. Not only have the prospects of short-term job opportunities been put on hold, but the longer-term economic growth that was to be derived from these catalytic projects is now further delayed at a time when we needed to be accelerating the pace of such infrastructure development.

Destroying the trust relationship between the client and the professions — whether engineers, lawyers, accountants or doctors — on such spurious grounds, brings into question the role of professionalism in both the public and private sectors. Is this a healthy path for our youth and future society, or should we be focusing on redirecting the moral compasses of those who continue to choose wrong over right?

Perhaps the Sanral board should have spent more time understanding how the industry operates and why there is a need for mutual trust between accounting authorities such as theirs and professional service providers, who form part of their ecosystem. Consulting engineers have always been the trusted adviser to the client — it is the very reason the industry exists.

Chris Campbell
Via email

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