Group Five to source foreign skills for SA projects
The biggest gap in the construction skills value chain was that of skilled artisans and foremen, construction giant Group Five's executives said on Wednesday.
Group Five HR director Junaid Allie said that the company continued to source skills from the local market, but that it would also use its experience gained in Africa on the use of foreign nationals.
In South Africa, Group Five had the approval for 1 500 work permits to bring in skilled foreign nationals into the country, as it had significant projects to complete, as well as a number of recently secured contracts to start.
"We are looking to staff up the big projects we are involved in. We are also looking to get back South African nationals that have moved abroad," Allie said.
He explained that this was done predominantly through the Home Coming Revolution programme, and Careers in Africa exhibitions.
Since 2006, Group Five had brought in about 350 Philippine nationals to work on its projects in Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also employed about 3 500 Indian and Pakistani nationals in Dubai, where it was involved with significant civil works projects.
Group Five employed about 12 000 people in total, about 5 000 of which were full time employees and the rest which were on limited duration contracts.
The company's executives also said that the quality of engineering graduates from South African tertiary institutions was "great", but that the ability to attract additional people became difficult.
Group Five had estimated that for every R1-billion increase in revenue, it was likely that an additional 1 400 staff members would have to be employed - perhaps more for particularly labour intensive projects. About 30% of that staff complement would be permanent staff.
To populate its skills pipeline, Group Five had about 50 students as bursars, and another 150 learners on learnerships at any point in time, and the company also had about 1 200 trainees that had passed through its construction skills programme - with this number likely to jump significantly as the company prepared to officially launch the opening of its second SETA accredited skills academy.
Group Five had established a skills academy attached to its Moses mabhida satium project, and the new training centre was based in Woodmead. Allie said that the company hoped to open another two academies in 2008, on in the south of Gauteng, and another in the Western Cape.
Meanwhile, Group Five CEO Mike Upton reported that the company’s mega-projects in South Africa were all progressing on time, despite some challenging weather and industrial conditions.
The Moses Mabhida stadium, which experienced delays owing to strike action at the end of 2007, as well as heavy rain, was back on track and the issued had been addressed. The value of the contract increased from the initial R1,8-billion, to R2-billion, largely because of material cost increases, as well as labour. Upton confidently added that “the stadium will be handed over on time”. The project started in January 2007, and the duration was 2,5 years.
Also related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup was the King Shaka International Airport contract valued at R6,8-billion, which started in August 2007. The project was said to be on track despite the heavy rains experienced in KwaZulu-Natal, and completion was expected in mid-2010.
The entrance widening of the Durban Harbour in partnership with Dutch company Dredging International, valued at R1,8-billion, was also on track. The project started in May 2007 and was expected to take three years to complete.
Upton said that the company’s other significant contracts worldwide were also all on time.
Despite an already impressive array of contracts, the company felt it was poised to further benefit from the massive public infrastructure spend in South Africa, in the areas of power, water, roads, ports and harbours, and prisons.
Group Five expected a more conservative private industrial spend, and potentially some curtailed projects owing to power concerns in the short term.
The company was, however, convinced of the mining expansion in Africa, and had recently secured a R140-million contract for the Kayelekera uranium project in Malawi, and a R460-million contract in the DRC on the Kinsivere project.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was proving profitable for the company as well, and it was conducting the Dubai Terminal Two expansion project, the Dubai duty free warehouse project, and had recently secured a 50% stake in a R6-billion Middle East civil works project in the UAE.
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