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. Details of events and how to register will be displayed here soon.  A full conference programme and list of topics will be included and there will be exciting opportunities for exhibitors, sponsors and advertising.

Important Communiqué from the IMESA President

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 business plan which was drafted during 2006, EXCO realised that it is not financially viable to embark on either of these options at this stage. Instead it was decided to rather 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).

Mrs. Botton, who grew up in Malawi, has an impressive CV which can be briefly summarised as executive secretarial, office management, computer trainer, consultancy and software support. Mrs. Botton has 35 years experience and at one stage had her own networking and computer service company with several employees. Mrs. Botton will by all means be a great asset to IMESA, and we all look forward to a member data base with integrity, website management, improved financial recording and secretarial support for EXCO and Council.

Herewith also my thanks to Ms. Dianne Penells and Mr. Mike Smith, who served the Institute for just on a year.

Lastly, I would neglect in my duty if I do not salute our Vice President, Jannie Pietersen and his secretary Rita Zaayman, for the pristine work and devotion they have put into the preparation of agendas and keeping of minutes of Exco and Council meetings since early 2008.

For the sake of completeness, below is the current contact details of our new Secretariat:

Mrs Ingrid Botton Tel: (031) 266 3263 Fax: (031) 266 5094 Postal address: P.O. Box 2190, WESTVILLE, 3630

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

Hope to see you at the Annual Conference in Cape Town from 28-30 October 2009. Visit
www.paragon-conventions.com should you still need to register. Note: Early Bird registration has been extended to 15 September 2009.

Regards
D.J. DE BEER Pr Eng Pr CPM
President

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

CESA Courses for 2009

CESA programmed a total of 78 courses from July until November 2009 in different centres all over South Africa - and they are all registered for CPD credits. Read more about all the available courses under Cources & Conferences or go directly to the CESA courses.

Pump Efficiency Workshop: 9-10 July 2009

This course is endorsed by Eskom DSM and the National Energy Efficiency Agency in the interests of saving electricity. It is designed to help engineers and technicians better understand how optimising both existing and new pumping systems will lead to reduced life cycle costs and major reductions in energy usage. Read more under Courses & Conferences ...

Presenters: Harry Rosen, John Tonkin
Venue: Ritz Pumps SA, Jet Park, Boksburg
Course Duration: 2 days
Earn 2 CPD points
Cost: R4 500 excl VAT

2009 Eastern Cape Mini-Conference of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa

The 2009 Institute of Waste Management's Eastern Cape Mini-Conference will be hosted from Wednesday, 26 to Friday, 28 August 2009 at the Regent Hotel on the East London Esplanade. The theme for the conference is Waste Management and Climate Change - The Link. Read more under Courses & Conferences ...

SA Road Federation Courses April – September 2009

SARF released a list of course to be held in April – September 2009. Please ignore the closing dates on some of the courses, as there are still a few places left on these courses. See the full list under Courses & Conferences ...

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:

Proud Sponsors of the IMESA Website www.raubex.co.za

 

 Thank You for Your Contribution to the 2008 Conference