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Abstract
In present-day South Africa, the provision of urban infrastructure falls within the realm of socio-economic development. No longer is only the physical provision of infrastructure of importance, but also the upliftment of the beneficiary communities. Labour-intensive construction techniques, with its larger employment multiplier, lower capital requirements and larger direct community interaction, are hailed as one of the solutions. The purpose of this thesis is, firstly, to investigate the practicality and feasibility of applying labour-intensive construction techniques on a large scale in the provision of urban infrastructure, and secondly, to determine criteria to be considered for the choice of a construction method.
The research indicated that currently most labour-intensive Africa construction approaches are economically inefficient, fail to enhance sustainable socio-economic development and are more expensive than conventional construction approaches. There is a direct relationship between the degree of increase in the labour component of a construction process, and the increase in the total cost. This is due to low labour productivity, wage rates at levels which cannot compete with plant productivity, additional management supervision and a higher perceived risk associated with it.
For South Africa's future economic well-being and to combat unemployment, civil engineering construction will have to become more labour absorbent in nature. The study highlighted that this can be done within the limitations of economic efficiency and long term sustainability. Labour-intensive construction of municipal infrastructure should be linked to a national development and growth strategy with central government proactively taking the lead and providing institutional and financial support. To achieve this, the construction of urban infrastructure should not be approached as a special employment programme, but primarily, as the efficient provision of services to communities and, secondarily, as the optimisation of the development impact. It would require that labour utilisation in the construction process be enhanced and optimised, but with due cognisance of cost implications, balanced capital/labour input ratios as well as the socio-economic efficiency and sustainability thereof.