The Eastern Cape’s department of housing has awarded construction work of government houses worth R24 million rand to 17 Emerging Contractors who recently graduated from a construction management training course arranged by the department with Nelson Mandela Metro University.

These emerging contractors will build 430 housing units in Mt Pleasant Project in Fort Beaufort and Transit Camp Project (Makana). This represents an average of 25 housing units per emerging contractor. Work on these projects will start next month and the building of the houses will be completed early next year. Another 220 housing units have been set aside for construction by local Emerging Contractors in the Makana Municipality.

The contractors include 2 disabled, 2 youth and five women run construction companies. Plans are at an advance stage to allocate housing units to emerging contractors in other parts of the province. Already 398 housing units have been set aside for emerging contractors in Alfred Nzo region. 

A second batch of contractors will be trained in various skills through Construction CETA. Further Education and Training Colleges have been approached to also provide training to emerging contractors.

Central to the department’s Emerging Contractor Development Policy(2007) is a comprehensive support strategy to Emerging contractors. This strategy provides for graduation of emerging contractors from a grade A( which is an entry grade) to Grade D(which is an exit grade).

Grade A contractors are initially allocated 5 housing units to build houses whilst grade D contractors get allocated 100 housing units and this will be the point of their graduation to become established business entities. The 17 trained emerging contractors fall under grade B, and have been allocated 25 housing units each to construct and complete within five months.

The department has also entered into memorandums  of agreement with the Public Works, Eastern Cape Development Corporation to train and capacitate emerging contractors. This is a partnership between three parties on the implementation of skills training, coaching and mentorship programmes for Emerging contractors.

Further agreements will be entered into with FET colleges for training and mentorship of contractors.