The South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP) has voiced its support of the South African Architectural Profession’s (SACAP) recent protest to government’s release of a turnkey tender.

The SACPCMP has supported a statement by SACAP President, Charles Nduku, which warned against the approach taken by the Free State Department of Human Settlements’ turnkey tender pertaining to a multi-billion Rand housing project.

“Such procurement avenues will negatively impact on built environment transformation. It is important to ensure that the sharing of economic opportunities, especially within the Construction Sector, will enable the growth and development of the all the professions in our industry,” said SACPCMP President, Mr. Lufuno Ratsiku.

“Complex work can always be treated differently and yet, still be accommodative economically. As a Council, we note that turnkey projects have their place as dictated by circumstance, although these should not be adopted as a general practice. This can remove accountability in projects, as well as result in a separation of responsibilities, checks and balances, thus impacting on good governance. Projects such as the one recently announced by the Free State Department of Human Settlements can make a substantial, positive impact on our Construction Industry as well as the country’s economy. But this will not happen should such a project be coordinated by only one person or contractor in particular.”

Ratsiku added that turnkey opportunities should be reserved for extremely complex and specialised projects where the client department could dedicate the necessary specialists to manage such projects on their behalf.

“It is unacceptable for built environment professional service providers to end up at the mercy of appointed turnkey contractors and remain disadvantaged,” he said. “It is imperative to ensure accountability in projects. Where government does not have the necessary capacity to monitor projects in terms of professional service providers, the situation can lead to the creation of a ‘player and referee on the same field’ situation. The interest of the appointed contractor may not necessarily be in the interest of the client. This can lead to issues in terms of liability and impact on governance.”