Built Environment Professions Bill withdrawn

The new Built Environment Professions Bill has lead to much controversy around the future of ECSA as official engineering council for professional engineers. Subsequently the IMESA Council decided during its meeting on 28 October 2008 in Bloemfontein to state that “IMESA supports an independent engineering professional council in the interest of technological development in South Africa and to maintain our international technological standing”.

In the mean time Engineering News of 18 November 2008 reported that "The controversial Built Environment Professions Bill has been temporarily withdrawn, newly appointed Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said on Tuesday, citing technical and legal issues. The objective of the Built Environment Professions Bill was to foster the accelerated transformation of professions, such as engineering, architecture, and quantity surveying, and also proposes the establishment of a new South African Council for the Built Environment (SACBE). This supercouncil would incorporate all the existing professional councils, including the influential Engineering Council of South Africa, and transform them into subsidiary boards" .  Read the full report on .....