PM Network - June 2009

80-kilometer (50-mile) Gautrain rail project will provide Johannesburg residents and visitors with a direct link to the O.R. Tambo International Airport.

The project is a public–private partnership between Gauteng’s provincial government and Bombela, a consortium of international partners and local stakeholders.

Construction on the Gautrain project began in September 2006, and the entire project is slated to wrap up in 2011.

The rail line will include 15 kilometers (nine miles) of tunnels, with 96 rail cars reaching speeds of 160 kilometers (99 miles) per hour.

The construction did create some problems for local residents, though. As a result of the tunneling, part of a busy Johannesburg road collapsed in July 2008. Although no one was injured, the incident snarled traffic for weeks.

And that’s not the only issue the project has encountered.

Concerns have been raised about the project’s first phase, which may not be completed in time for the start of the World Cup. But project head Jack van der Merwe doesn’t seem to be worried. “We’re working on a lot of sites. Some of these are ahead of schedule, and some are behind. In general, we’re still within the timeframe we have set ourselves,” Mr. van der Merwe told Engineering News.

If the project cannot be completed in time for the tournament, he told the publication, then the government “will have to go to a plan B. … We can’t compromise on safety, or standards, or anything like that.”

O.R. Tambo International Airport

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA/KAIHSU TAI

figure is expected to reach more than 21 million by 2010. To manage the increase in traffic, Airports Company South Africa, which owns and operates South Africa's main airports, has initiated a host of upgrade projects.

To begin with, the Tambo airport will receive a ZAR8 billion new terminal to ease traffic flow and cut processing time. The airport will also receive extended runways and taxiways to accommodate the massive Airbus A380. Also in the works: a new ZAR1.8 billion central terminal building that will link Tambo’s domestic and international terminals, and connect to the Gautrain high-speed rail.

IN THE AIR

Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport is already Africa’s busiest airport, with more than 18 million passengers passing through in 2007. And that

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Johannesburg is paving the way for a successful World Cup event in 2010, and that includes road upgrades.

In July 2007, construction began on five kilometers (three miles) of the highway that connects Soweto with Soccer City, the site of the World Cup’s opening ceremony.

The project is part of a larger effort to improve the city’s roads. The South African National Roads Agency Ltd. has funneled ZAR11.5 billion into road upgrades for Gauteng, the province in which Johannesburg is located.

remain as a statement in the project charter. Clients want to be able to bank this benefit upfront.”

JC Kruger, PMP, has also observed shifts in the city’s project management dynamics. Currently director of Greybeards Inc., a Johannesburg-based consulting firm, Mr. Kruger has spent more than three decades in the project management arena.

The mining and minerals industry is one sector being forced to change. “The skills shortage, good margins and lax time schedules on mining projects resulted in mediocre project managers being tolerated,” Mr.

Kruger says. That luxury is no longer an option in an economic climate with heightened competition—for any organization.

“Companies in all sectors have significantly reduced their capital project budgets,” says Werner Meyer, PMP, managing director of ProjectLink Consulting pty Ltd., Centurion, South Africa. “Only essential capital projects are conducted, and the management of cost is critical.”