Industry association the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) will, this year, actively raise the relevance of engineering professionals, as perceived in the public sector, and its own relevance as a thought leader in the infrastructure environment and a fair arbiter of infrastructure evaluation, says president Steven Kaplan.

SAICE will encourage the public sector to position itself as an employer of choice for engineering professionals, he adds.

Enabling a positive change that enhances the relevance and value of the engineering professions and representative professional institutions is key to the capacitation of public service institutions and the improvement of infrastructure in South Africa that will best serve the public interest, Kaplan states.

“My focus will be to showcase the value and relevance of civil engineering professionals, namely engineers, technologists and technicians, in the built environment. I have taken up the gauntlet to re-establish the value and relevance of the engineering professional in the public and private sectors.

“It is in South Africa’s best interest for infrastructure development to be led by experts, wh[o] are the engineering professionals responsible for the foresight and know-how to build infrastructure that will leave a positive legacy for generations into the future,” he says.

SAICE is committed to establishing synergies and partnerships with the public sector to help build much-needed engineering expertise. A survey conducted in 2015 found that 68% of 1 367 engineering professionals surveyed were willing to work in the public sector and 50.3% in rural areas.

“To help address the unemployment challenge facing South Africa, we must create opportunities for engineering professionals who are underutilised or unemployed to mentor those young graduates in both the private and public sectors.

“Our SAICE members are here to provide expertise and guidance in the journey of professionalising the public sector, such as through establishing effective mentoring and coaching of graduates as part of the long-term succession plan for the public sector.”

Kaplan intends to leverage the SAICE Infrastructure Report Card, or IRC, to reinforce the organisation as a key thought leader in civil infrastructure matters by targeting decision-makers in the public sector, and focus discussions on planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure.

“A positive change towards improving the relevance or value of engineering professionals, and their representative professional institutions, is critical to the improvement of infrastructure development,” he averred.

“I am also committed to creating a platform for further engagements that will inform and influence macro-level planning, lobby for infrastructure funding, stimulate debate on the condition of infrastructure and the effect of that condition on quality of life and the economy, and highlight the actions necessary to improve the condition of the nation's infrastructure,” Kaplan notes.