“You can shake and shake the ketchup bottle, first none ‘ll come and then a lot ‘l” – not that Byron (new coordinator of the competition) shook it too hard but we were delighted to see 11 high quality entries in the Branch’s regional awards competition! At least some of our members were busy during 2017. Well done all entrants, well done Byron and congratulations to the winners. (Report elsewhere).
More reflections on the water crisis: Dr. Gisela Kaiser (Executive Director: Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services, City of Cape Town) and Neil McLeod (past SAICE President, retired from Ethekwini where he headed up that city’s water provision for 22 years, now consulting to City of Cape Town) addressed a SAICE/SAAE meeting at UCT on 8th May and gave us hope that, with such people and the likes of Peter Flower, we will weather the (lack of) storm. Also doing good work in bringing home to politicians the importance of infrastructure in the welfare of the City is the Western Cape Property Developers’ Forum, to whose annual conference yours truly was invited on 10th and 11th May. As Eric Foster is quoted as saying: first it was a lack of wastewater treatment capacity that put a brake on development, then it was electricity, now it’s water… what next? Due to his calling he is very aware of transportation problems, another large brake on the economy.
Good to see the enthusiasm of our younger committee members in running the water and bridge building competitions for our school learners – role models encouraging the study of civil engineering instead of all wanting to be accountants or doctors.
