Can SA’s construction industry be saved?

If you’re driving near Fourways in Joburg, travelling north along William Nicol Drive, the road turns to gravel before coming to a dead end. To keep going, you have to make a winding detour through Steyn City. It’s a source of deep frustration for motorists who commute to work in Fourways, Randburg and Sandton along that route — and it’s a deep disruption to companies in the area. The reason: the project to upgrade the road, the K46 which goes through Diepsloot to the N14 freeway, lies incomplete and abandoned — an emblem of a stalled economy and a flailing construction industry. The contractor, Lubbe Construction — which in better days described itself as "the biggest integrated construction development & management, infrastructure & property development company in SA" — has applied for business rescue, having missed successive deadlines to complete the project. Lubbe blames this on "financial difficulties". According to Lubbe’s contract with the Gauteng department of roads & trans...