The Civil Engineering Contractor January 2018 | Page 38

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Integrated delivery
By Kim Kemp
36 - CEC January 2018
As an example of this approach, Green
points to one of the biggest projects
that AECOM is undertaking currently,
the construction supervision of the
USD1.5-billion Tema Port Ex pansion
Project in Ghana for Meridian Port
Services (MPS), operator of the
container terminal. Here AECOM is
providing design and procurement
management services prior to the
award of construction contracts,
following which it will supervise the
actual construction.
The project commenced at the
beginning of October 2016, with
completion anticipated by Q4
2019. “At its peak, we will have 70
people on-site, of which 55 will be
Ghanaians. The rest will comprise
core skills we will need to import.
While high-level management is
being carried out from South Africa,
we have a fully-fledged project team
on the ground,” Green explains.
Another flagship project for
AECOM in Africa is the Itare Dam
in Kenya for the Rift Valley Water
Services Board (RVWS), which will
have a capacity of 100 000m3/day.
Currently still in the design phase,
it also highlights AECOM’s unique
approach to project financing. “A key
differentiator for us here is a more
integrated delivery model,” Green
adds. AECOM is partnering with
Italian contractor CMC, with which
it has a long-standing relationship, as
well as assisting with Italian export
financing to implement the project.
T
he traditional model of
deploying expatriates to run
projects and staff country
offices is no longer sustainable. “Our
aim is to grow local businesses in
those countries, staffed by local
people,” Green highlights. “While
our home base is South Africa, local
knowledge and connections are
extremely important in terms of
market intelligence.”
While Design, Build, Finance
and Operate (DBFO) is AECOM’s
global project-delivery model,
not all these boxes can be ticked
in an African context currently.
“We cannot necessarily bring the
financing, operations, or building
side to bear on all projects. However,
we are engaged in very deliberate
partnering with select contractors
and financiers. That is the way things
are going, with clients increasingly
looking for a ‘one-stop shop’ for
infrastructure delivery.”
The major advantage for clients is
that it centralises risk, as well as
allowing for a single point of contact
and responsibility. “While the African
market is not necessarily yet mature
enough for a full DBFO approach, we
are aligning ourselves with AECOM
globally, albeit in a slightly different
way. Currently, we have a full service
offering on the design side, with our
key differentiator being that we are
linking up on the build and finance
sides and, in some cases, on the
operational side,” Green elaborates.
The Integrated Delivery Model is the best means of realising
complex, multi-disciplinary projects in Africa. This is the view
of Darrin Green, managing director for Civil infrastructure
at AECOM
Darrin Green managing director for Civil
infrastructure at AECOM.