OVERVIEW Engineering The renewable energy sector holds great promise for engineering firms. Several South African engineering firms are restructuring, aiming to become more flexible and better able to pursue projects in other countries in Africa and overseas. South Africa has many vertically integrated engineering and consulting companies that offer a wide range of services. South African companies have a presence in South American and Australian mining, African energy and infrastructure and Middle Eastern construction and project management. All of the biggest construction companies (including Aveng, Aurecon, Raubex and WBHO) are multidisciplinary companies. WorleyParsons has a minerals, metals and chemicals project cluster (and a presence in 17 cities) in Southern Africa. Its other major divisions are hydrocarbons and infrastructure. Group Five, which relies on its engineering and construction division for 80% of turnover, announced in 2017 that it was to split the division. The group has more than 8 500 employees in Africa and is active in Europe. As part of its plan to become a diversified project engineering, procurement and construction group in specific natural resource sectors, Murray & Roberts sold Murray & Roberts Infrastructure and Building Platform to Firefly Investments for R314-million in 2016. Investors in Firefly include the Government Employees Pension Fund. The sale does SECTOR INSIGHT South African engineering companies are restructuring. • The WorleyParsons Mining Centre of Excellence is based in Johannesburg. not include a share in the consortium which runs the Gautrain. Whereas Murray & Roberts had a focus on construction and mining in South Africa, the drive is now more international and focussed on four sectors: power, oil and gas, metals and minerals, and water. While there are many large projects to occupy engineers in South Africa, the level of SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018 88
iX Engineers INTERVIEW CEO Lebo Leshabane reflects on prospects for growth in a number of engineering sectors in South Africa. Lebo Leshabane How and when did iX Engineers come into existence? iX Engineers is a product of a merger between WorleyParsons Infrastructure business and Black Jill’s Engineers Consulting business. The merger took place in 2016. I was the founder and Managing Director of Black Jill’s Engineers, which I started 10 years ago. What is the role of women in the business? Women play a role in all levels of management and operations from the board, Exco and other management positions. Black women own 36% of the company and overall, we are sitting at 37.5%. BIOGRAPHY Lebo Leshabane is a Civil Engineer with 15 years’ experience in infrastructure delivery, project management and business management. With a BSc. Eng. Civil (Hons) from Wits University and diplomas in business management and engineering (GDE), she worked for a consulting engineering firm, Transnet Freight Rail and South African Airways before becoming founder and Managing Director of Black Jill’s Engineers. She sat on the Board of Spectrum Asset Management Company and the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF) and is an ECSA council member. What is the focus of your business? We are a multi-disciplinary engineering company, and we participate in all sectors: water, roads, sanitation, buildings, power and asset management and HSE. We are also broadening our focus to turkey projects due to clients requests and preferences, therefore we’re partnering with construction companies to offer turnkey solutions. What are the prospects for the infrastructure sector? In the short term the market is under some pressure. We see good prospects in the water, and waste-water treatment sectors. We’re also working on some desalination projects to address the current water shortages. Any other sectors showing potential? Integrated human settlement development where you don’t only provide housing but all the supporting services. Shopping centres, clinics, office space and light industrial, all within the same developments are becoming more and more popular. Describe some of your other key projects. We have worked on the Kusile Power Station and a new airport, which was built from scratch at St Helena Island. Also the Mokolo Crocodile Water Augmentation Scheme in Limpopo, Gautrain Phase 1 and the Vale Rail Line in Mozambique. 89 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2018
SOUTH AFRICAN 2018 EDITION BUSINESS
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