As South Africa ramps up infrastructure investment and increases private sector participation, projects are becoming more complex, multi-stakeholder dependent and time sensitive. Despite the momentum, outcomes are too often undermined by fragmented processes, misaligned incentives and persistent delays.
In this context, integrated project delivery (IPD) is an effective alternative, offering a collaborative approach that aligns stakeholders from the outset, strengthens coordination, mitigates risk and enables more efficient, predictable execution.
Carl Pretorius, Managing Director of multi-disciplinary engineering and construction partnership, Khewija GIBB Alliance (KGA), says the greatest delivery challenges holding projects back today are delays in the release of funding, a lack of technical competence and procedural hold points.
“In South Africa, the release of government project funding is often significantly delayed, in some cases taking several years. Legally, industry participants cannot enter the market without secured funding, as capital must be available to execute projects.”
Pretorius also flags South Africa’s loss of skills and a decline in technical expertise as a result of emigration, with this being particularly evident on complex, multi-stakeholder projects that require experienced input and timely decision-making. “This is a significant issue: many professionals with five or more years of experience are emigrating or taking up expatriate roles, leaving behind a workforce with more limited exposure. Projects are affected, as the shortage of the required expertise slows down decision-making and can create further delays across key project stages.”
Failing to agree on procedural hold points – key moments for review or decision-making – can also delay progress. The private sector addresses this through the RACI matrix (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed), which clarifies responsibility and accountability. Without this clarity from the outset, confusion can arise and projects may stall.
Pretorius says delays and cost overruns are often the result of inadequate upfront planning and clinging to outdated practices that don’t create value. “Investing sufficient time in thorough, realistic preparation ensures alignment among stakeholders, making execution more efficient and streamlined.”
He notes stakeholder fragmentation as another major barrier to successful infrastructure project delivery, as different parties pursue their own agendas and interests rather than a shared objective. In many cases, stakeholders, ranging from government bodies and private investors to local communities, hold conflicting views about priorities, such as profit generation, job creation or long-term affordability.
In the South African context, where infrastructure projects are expected to address broad societal needs such as employment and equitable access, misalignment can become especially marked. For example, local businesses involved in a project may prioritise financial returns, while community members may emphasise immediate job opportunities and social benefits. Without a clear, unified vision that brings these competing interests together, decision-making becomes slow and contested, leading to delays, inefficiencies and, in some cases, project failure.
By contrast, countries like Singapore under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew demonstrate how aligning stakeholders around a common national agenda can significantly enhance project success.
Integrated project delivery
In the South African infrastructure context IPD represents a shift away from the traditional, fragmented model towards a collaborative, shared-risk approach. Under the conventional delivery model, a client appoints a principal agent, often an architect or engineer, who develops the design, after which various engineers and contractors are engaged sequentially, with procurement and responsibilities divided across distinct project phases.
IPD differs in that it brings all key stakeholders, including the client, designers, engineers and contractors, together from concept stage, with a view to promoting joint decision-making, aligned incentives and shared accountability. Here, the success or failure of the project is collectively owned rather than distributed across isolated parties.
Pretorius adds that IPD lends itself to understanding the risks for each partner, making decisions more transparent and affording a full understanding of the knock-on effects of delays throughout the process.
“It creates a full appreciation of the entire supply chain, protecting the critical path of the project. The business case and pathway to getting the ‘product’ to the end user will be fully understood by all, no matter the scope of the job. This help improve timelines and results in greater cost certainty.”
He argues that broader adoption of IDP in South Africa depends on upskilling individuals and organisations to better understand how it works. “Equally important is securing early buy-in from all stakeholders on the execution methodology at the outset of a project. Success at the execution level requires enlisting highly competent team members with a strong, results-driven mindset.
“An IDP approach drives clearer alignment among all stakeholders, significantly improving the likelihood that projects are completed efficiently, on time, and to standard. This is something South Africa urgently needs,” says Pretorius.
About GIBB
The GIBB Group of companies is one of South Africa’s leading black-owned multi-disciplinary engineering and architectural entities, with a wide footprint on the African continent. GIBB delivers integrated solutions across key infrastructure markets in water, transport, energy, mining, property, manufacturing, and petrochemicals as well as project development services by investing in early-stage development.
Within the wider group:
- Khewija GIBB Alliance (KGA) is an engineering and construction partnership specifically formed to deliver large-scale EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) projects, predominantly serving the petrochemical and mining sectors (such as Sasol in Secunda). It combines GIBB's design expertise with Khewija’s construction and execution capabilities.
- Gibb Crede is a specialist energy and infrastructure investment and development platform. It is a joint venture that integrates GIBB's technical know-how with the financial and transaction-structuring expertise of Crede Capital Partners. Gibb Crede acts primarily as a project architect, developer, and long-term equity partner for independent power projects (like the Koruson 1 cluster of wind farms).
For more information visit: gibb.co.za
