Municipalities are falling short in terms of project management in “nearly all aspects”, University of Pretoria (UP) project management associate Professor Giel Bekker tells Engineering News.

Municipalities draft and present Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) every year, in which all projects that are planned and ongoing are listed. Every local municipality has a project management unit or office that is supposed to initiate, develop, implement, and control these projects.

However, Bekker notes that, at the majority of South African municipalities, this is not done properly. In many cases, it is not done at all.

“The end-result of the failure to properly draft and present IDPs is poor infrastructure. This can result in, for example, raw sewage flowing into freshwater catchment areas, erratic water supply, or roads becoming dilapidated,” Bekker explains.

He notes that improved training and skills development is crucial to address this problem, but concedes that the challenge is much more systemic, behavioural and political, which creates a much more challenging scenario.

“In a strongly politicised environment, such as local government, holding on to power currently overshadows service delivery. Corruption, self-interest and a lack of accountability are, unfortunately, entrenched,” Bekker says, noting that this culture creates a hostile environment in which it has become difficult to focus on project efforts.

Read more:

Municipalities’ project management falling short, Engineering News, 23 July 2021