EKURHULENI AND IMQS RAISE THE BAR ON INTEGRATED INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET MANAGEMENT

ABOUT EKURHULENI

The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is situated to the immediate east of Johannesburg in the Gauteng Province. It comprises an area of 1 923 km2 that includes the old formal towns of Germiston, Edenvale, Bedfordview, Benoni, Brakpan, Alberton, Kempton Park, Springs, Nigel and all their surrounding urban areas. This area is home to some 2.5 million people, 31 000 businesses and 43 000 institutions.

FORMULATING AN INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

In 2006 the Municipality formulated a programme to focus on establishing the extent, location and capabilities of physical and social infrastructure, as well as on backlogs relating to the provision of infrastructure services, typically consisting of requests for current and future access, renewals and associated maintenance needs. Arcus Gibb was appointed to undertake an investigative study, and since then the accounting standards relating to property, plant and equipment (GRAP 17) came into effect, compelling the municipality to prepare a fully componentised infrastructure asset register. This register was to indicate asset location, key asset attributes, condition, value, accumulated condition and other pertinent information. Arcus Gibb concluded that a miracle would be required to prepare such a register within the time available, and recommended that the municipality appoint software developer IMQS to provide an integrated suite of computerised infrastructure asset management software and to populate a GRAP 17 compliant infrastructure asset register in IMQS
using available desktop information from already existing IMQS systems in use at the Council.

Download the fUll article