Newly-established Saab Grintek has been awarded a contract to create a disaster management system for SA.
The deal was awarded by the Department of Provincial and Local Government, as part of a ministerial-level intergovernmental cooperation agreement between SA and Sweden.
The system, which is initially envisaged as a four-month pilot project, is to be established in the Eastern Cape.
Saab Grintek chairman Zoli Kunene and Saab AB executive VP Kenth-Ake J"onnson announced the deal during the official launch of the Saab Grintek partnership this week.
The initiative, stemming from government-to-government cooperation between the two countries, is to be driven by the Grintek Integrated Defence Solutions (GrIDS) division of Saab Grintek.
GrIDS marketing manager Johan de Clerk says the project will involve the transfer of disaster management software from the Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) to the Department of Provincial and Local Government.
In addition to enabling SA to use its systems and processes, Sweden will also provide the relevant training for the applications, says De Clerk.
The South African system will be based on wired and wireless wide-area network and local-area network infrastructure. It will include the current version of SRSA`s command and monitoring of disaster management and rescue operations software and disaster management module.
Saab Grintek said in a statement that these tools would be delivered as plug-ins on Saab civil security architecture in the Wearable Command Unit, provided by Saab Systems. The software will be for exclusive use in government departments and agencies on a non-profit basis.
De Clerk says work on the pilot project is set to start in January, and is expected to be completed in June.
Government is anticipating for the pilot to form part of the Department of Provincial and Local Government`s quest to establish a uniform national disaster management system. However, De Clerk notes, a national roll-out will depend on the performance of the four-month study.
Saab Grintek revealed that the letter of intent signed earlier this year identified the key areas for future cooperation, which are: systems technology, and education, training and consulting in the field of disaster management.
The group said the software will be offered by the SRSA at no cost to SA.
Announcing the project, Kunene stated the system is expected to fulfil all the civil security requirements for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, to be held in SA.
Three municipalities have been selected for the first phase of the pilot project: Amatole District Municipality, including Buffalo City; Chris Hani District Municipality; and Alfred Nzo District Municipality.
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