New SA firm joins trek into Africa

CITING difficulties in establishing greenfield projects due to red tape, another South African company has decided to shift its focus to other African countries.

While Africa booms, the construction sector is struggling in SA, after years of waiting for national and municipal tenders and other processes to be approved.

Stephen Meijers, CE of ELB Engineering, a division of the JSE-listed ELB Group, said yesterday many of its new deals were in other African countries with fewer hurdles to be cleared.

“I would say the South African market is depressed right now, but this is largely because our first-world restrictions can make it more difficult, especially for smaller businesses, to get projects going,” he said.

“However, outside of SA, they have rules and regulations which can be easier to manage and that can draw South African firms. For any engineering company, Africa is the place to be.”