Govt urged to upgrade project management processes
Keikantse Lesemela | Tuesday February 3, 2015 14:59
Speaking at the workshop held recently, Innolead Group Managing Director, Oabona Kgengwenyane said government projects are mostly faced with the challenge of failure and delay in completion because there is no proper management process throughout the project. “If we want to see successful projects we should find strategies to run the project. “Most of these projects are managed by the engineers but the engineers do not come up with strategies on how to deliver the best project, they just start the work right away,” he said. Kgengwenyane said public infrastructure is a very huge project that requires a lot of work and the best skills. “You have to look at the market and find suitable methodologies and there has to be someone who manages the costs and time on behalf of the government”, he said.
Innolead consulting has partnered with a South African Consultancy Oracle Primavera to boost their project management capacity.
Kgengwenyane said the partnership would benefit Botswana as Primavera is a leading public infrastructure consultancy company and has intervened in South African Projects such as the national stadium and the Eskom power station construction. “Our projects can be successful if the government can facilitate change and the responsibilities of the project managers. Engineers are trained as project managers but they still fail”, he said. On his note, Oracle Primavera General Manager, Mike Sicilia said managing capital and mitigating risk are the top two drivers in managing a project successfully through unanticipated changes. “When of these two areas are given the highest level of strategic focus and become the guiding principles of every project action, they improve operational excellence. They improve the likelihood of success,” he said.
He said only the most rigorous comprehensive, integrated and easily understood management information; monitoring and control systems can help project teams deliver on the expectations of their stakeholders and the needs and expectations of the future. “ When embarking upon public infrastructure projects of any size and purpose, public and state-sponsor accountability and public scrutiny create constant and justified pressure,” said Sicilia.
Government has been experiencing a lot of challenges in its construction projects such as, the Morupule B power station and the Francistown National Stadium.