Official Opening of the Construction Contact Centre – Mmabatho – 7 June 2012...

The Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, North West and the Construction Industry Development Board (cidb) are pleased to announce the completion of our new offices in the DPWRT precinct. We are further delighted to inform all contractors and would-be contractors that the new Construction Contact Centre (CCC) in Mafikeng, has increased services offered to construction contractors in the North West Province. What is particulary exciting is the fact that this CCC is now a full Service Centre is no longer just a post office or clearing house for applications.

The Construction Contact Centres are facilities created by the cidb in partnership with departments of Public Works at national and provincial level as hubs for industry wide initiatives on contractor development and other construction services.

There are currently nine Construction Contact Centres situated throughout the country. The first was launched by the then Minister of Public Works, Ms Thoko Didiza in Mayville, Durban on 4 August 2007.

The Construction Contact Centre (CCC) is a platform for contractor development and stakeholder partnerships in order to create access to services and also render support to contractors in the province. We hope that you will use it fruitfully to benefit both yourselves and government to creating a world-class construction industry in our North West.

The existence of the CCC in the province also allows the implementation of the Provincial Contractor Development Programmes and the National Contractor Development Programme (NCDP), an initiative which is endorsed by public sector clients and stakeholders to develop contracting capacity as well as to support contractor growth and empowerment.

As construction hubs the CCCs also facilitate business-to-business linkages and offer marketing and partnership opportunities to construction companies. These include partnerships on training, contractor development programs and other industry development initiatives.

By receiving and processing applications for contractor registration and upgrades the CCCs are facilitating better contractor and stakeholder access to cidb services in the provinces. They also facilitate improved communication between the cidb, contractors and clients. For the first time contractors are able to track the status and progress of their applications locally. Inevitably this will speed up the processing of applications and contribute to an easier and much more user friendly registration process.

The CCCs will also facilitate implementation of the National Contractor Development Programme (NCDP) aimed at growing the industry’s contracting and contractor capacity for improved infrastructure delivery. Championed by the cidb and the Department of Public Works, NCDP aims to streamline contractor development initiatives by various stakeholders to promote contractor sustainability for growth, empowerment, skills development and best practice.
It is also intended to promote better access to finance for contractors.

Among development programmes that the CCCs will facilitate is training of contractors on critical skills such as understanding and managing various construction contracts which are recommended by the cidb. The centres will also provide information about contractor development programmes and opportunities offered by various stakeholders.

So as I stand here on this chilly morning, I wish to welcome each and everyone of you to make use of our facilities as intended including asking for advice and guidance on how to get a grading and improve on the ones you may presently have.

Finally, I wish to thank the cidb for being a partner with us throughout this lengthy process. We look forward to working with you going forward. Our door is always open for ongoing interactions.

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