Using employment-intensive methods to construct and maintain infrastructure Available to Purchase

From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s the use of employment-intensive methods, which generate significant employment opportunities per unit of expenditure, were explored as a means for both the construction of public works and the generation of employment. In theory and small-scale experimentation the methods were found to apply to many aspects of civil construction. However, to date in sub-Saharan Africa, employment-intensive methods have only been used on a large-scale for low-cost, low-volume rural road construction. During the 1990s research and field experimentation in South Africa has not only confirmed the validity of the earlier research but demonstrated that, as long as certain basic principles are followed, employment-intensive methods may also be used for high-standard, heavily trafficked roads and other high-standard infrastructure without compromising cost, quality or time. Since the bulk of civil construction expenditure is on high-standard infrastructure, the use of employment-intensive methods could multiply the positive social and socioeconomic effects of such expenditure without detriment to the public purse. Following an introduction, this paper provides a summary of the research and field implementation carried out by, or in association with, the Research Centre for Employment Creation in Construction, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.