Municipal service delivery remains a hot potato. On the one had there is the dire need to bring services to under-serviced communities, and on the other, the country is faced with the enormous challenge of maintaining its existing and steadily growing asset base.
Coupled with the skills dearth, the situation combines into a volatile brew, not unlike gunpowder. Yet, we know gunpowder can produce both deadly explosions and fireworks, depending on how it's handled.
The need to supply services is well-established, but what politicians and municipal managers seem less sold on is the need to maintain existing infrastructure.
Why is maintenance so important? Should the needs of the historically disadvantaged not enjoy priority? The reality is that, in the interest of sustainable development, a way has to be found to do both.
Allowing infrastructure to slip into disrepair will in the long run cost many times more than what it does to keep those assets well-maintained. It should also be kept in mind that it is existing infrastructure that keeps the wheels of the economy turning, an economy on which all South Africans are reliant for jobs and livelihoods.
Even the business world is heeding the call. According to a recent research report by IBM, 40% of CEOs now view physical asset management as a key focus in strengthening their company's financial performance in the coming years.
According to a report compiled by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (Saice), the condition of the country's drinking water systems, sanitation, hospitals and clinics on average score an unsatisfactory D+. Saice says the grading means that much of the country's infrastructure is failing to deliver satisfactory service; and that there is an urgent need for repair and replacement.
Government infrastructure spending is set to continue to increase by as much as 15% a year even beyond 2010, according to the National Treasury of public finance DDG Andrew Donaldson. In its medium-term budget, running up to 2010, the National Treasury allocated R415.8 billion to infrastructure development.
With a massive maintenance backlog and much more coming down the road, how should municipalities respond? A much talked-about concept in recent years is that of public private partnerships. The benefit for municipalities is that private companies come to the table with the bottom line imperative in the back of their minds. All their energy is directed at delivering results, as results are what their compensation is based on.
Private companies also bring well established systems, tools and management practices. During the course of such a partnership, valuable skills are also transferred from the private sector into the public sector, to the point where the municipality can eventually run along on its own steam.
One municipality that opted for this route is Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. Ekurhuleni came into existence through the amalgamation of a number of smaller municipalities. The formation of the new entity presented significant challenges with regards to standard practices, systems and procedures across the newly-formed metropolitan municipality.
Ekurhuleni approached Pragma Africa to assist them in developing and implementing standardised maintenance practices. An Electrical Network Refurbishment Project was rolled out, consisting of five phases:
* The identification of assets due for refurbishment
* The assigning of criticality values to these assets in order to determine priorities
* Determining estimated cost
* Developing a plan with execution timelines
* Importing all this information into Pragma's Computerised Maintenance
Management System, On Key. The system schedules work, generates job cards, provides for feedback capturing and progress reporting.
The plan is extensive and runs over a number of years. It is also reviewed annually as maintenance conditions change over time. Inclusion in the plan during such a review is dictated by a further risk and criticality assessment, application of the 80/20 principle to identify the actions that will have the biggest overall impact, and again considering budgetary constraints.
It is very important to obtain the input from the regions in this process as they are the people with in-depth knowledge of their assets. To date, the project is running well and delivering significant improvements.
New challenges require out-of-the-box-thinking. The tendency is to want to stick to what has worked in the past, but sticking to past actions in the midst of new circumstances is a sure way to invite failure. The combined challenges of fast-paced growth and skills shortages compels us to seek a solution that can institute structured processes to deal with the growth and deliver skills transfer to deal with the shortages. Public private partnerships offer such a solution.
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