Third report card launched on current state of SA infrastructure
26 September 2017
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has launched the third Infrastructure Report Card (IRC 2017) on the condition of South Africa’s public infrastructure. In addition to the assessment of the condition of 10 sectors (comprising 29 subsectors) of infrastructure, the IRC provides comment on some of the reasons for the grades that it gives.
Malcolm Pautz, from Genesis Analytics, assisted the Nigerian Society of Engineers in formulating and developing its own IRC in 2014 and was the convener of the SAICE 2017 IRC.
Similar report cards on developed economies are published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in the United States, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in the United Kingdom, and by Engineers Australia. In the developing world South Africa was joined recently by Nigeria and Zambia and there are indications that the concept of IRCs is gaining traction in Africa.
The value of the report card is its ability to inform and influence decision makers at the macro-level of planning, to lobby for infrastructure funding, and stimulate debate and discussion to enhance the development and implementation of infrastructure.
The SAICE 2017 IRC was launched on 26 September 2017.