74th Annual IMESA Conference and Exhibition in Full Swing

East London will be the host city for the 74th Annual IMESA Conference and Exhibition.  The theme of the conference is "Meeting Service Delivery Challenges" and will take place at the newly built Regent International Convention Centre from 27th to 29th October 2010.  The facility has been developed to compete with both the local and international markets.

This conference will offer delegates an ideal opportunity to share ideas and constructively debate the challenges facing engineers in the municipal environment. 

PLEASE VISIT THE IMESA 2010 CONFERENCE WEBSITE:  http://www.imesa2010.co.za

Infrastructure Asset Management Workshop

After last year's workshop proved so popular, IMESA will again be running a 1-day workshop on Infrastructure Asset Management before the IMESA Conference 2010 which will be held in East London in October this year. The workshop last year introduced Infrustructure Asset Management Planning and the theme of the workshop on Tuesday, 26th October 2010 continues with "What to do with your Valuation Data Plan". The program includes relevant experience and case studies from South African municipalities presented by a variety of speakers.

For 2010 pre-conference IAM workshop details, click here (Microsoft Word 2003, 186 Kb).

 For more information about other Infrastructure Asset Management workshops and courses held around the country, please email Judy Stephens on imesatrg@webstorm.co.za or phone 031-266 3263.

Biennial Project Excellence Awards

The Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA) and the Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) have pleasure in inviting local, provincial and government/semi-government authorities and/or their engineering consultants to submit entries for the 2010 Biennial Project Excellence Awards competition. 

For details, click here.

IMESA National Office

It has become necessary to inform all IMESA Members of changes at IMESA’s Head Offices in Durban. EXCO at its meeting held on 31 July 2009 considered the following alternatives:

• Viability and affordability to create an “IMESA-House”, with CEO and Administrative staff.
• Outsourcing these functions to external service providers.

However, after considering a draft business plan, EXCO realised that it is not financially viable to embark on either of these options at this stage. Instead it was decided to strengthen its administrative component in Durban by the appointment of a single senior Administrative Officer with financial skills. After advertising it was decided to appoint Mrs. Ingrid Botton, who will be overseen by Mr. Jannie Pietersen (Vice President: Technical Divisions).

The current contact details of our new Secretariat:

Contact details of Council and EXCO members, as well as Branch chairman & secretaries, is available under About Us (see Contact Us / Head Office).

IMESA is the Official Distributer of the IIMM in South Africa Learn more about the International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM) here* ... You can also order it directly from IMESA Head Office here* ... More on the available Training Courses in Infrastructure Asset Management here* ... * See in the Index: Knowledge Sharing/Infrastructure Engineering/ Asset Management/ IIMM

Built Environment Professions Bill withdrawn

The new Built Environment Professions Bill has lead to much controversy around the future of ECSA as official engineering council for professional engineers. Subsequently the IMESA Council decided during its meeting on 28 October 2008 in Bloemfontein to state that “IMESA supports an independent engineering professional council in the interest of technological development in South Africa and to maintain our international technological standing”.

In the mean time Engineering News of 18 November 2008 reported that "The controversial Built Environment Professions Bill has been temporarily withdrawn, newly appointed Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said on Tuesday, citing technical and legal issues. The objective of the Built Environment Professions Bill was to foster the accelerated transformation of professions, such as engineering, architecture, and quantity surveying, and also proposes the establishment of a new South African Council for the Built Environment (SACBE). This supercouncil would incorporate all the existing professional councils, including the influential Engineering Council of South Africa, and transform them into subsidiary boards" .  Read the full report on .....

 More than 300Mb Legal Freeware on 2008 Conference CD

The 2008 Conference Committe provided more than 300Mb of legal freeware on the 2008 Conference CD (see more under Computer Applications under Knowledge Sharing). The following software is provided: