A process to assess the condition of South Africa's transport fixed infrastructure

Abstract

In 2006 the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE), in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), released the first ever ?report card? assessment rating of the condition of engineering infrastructure in South Africa. The purpose of the report card was to draw the attention of government, and of the public at large, to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the condition of infrastructure. Its success was such that the CSIR and SAICE brought the second report card out in 2011, and are now working together to prepare a third. Of the 10 infrastructure sectors assessed in the previous report cards (and which will be assessed again in the third), no less than four concern transport, viz roads, airports, ports and rail. Whereas completion of the third report card will not take place until early 2017, the objective of this paper is to describe (i) the background to and purpose of infrastructure report cards and the process by which the South African report cards are compiled and (ii) key findings of the previous report cards, with a particular focus on the transport sector.