Project management competence in public sector infrastructure organisations

Public sector organisations responsible for infrastructure development in most non-industrialised countries, which include infrastructure departments/ministries, parastatal organisations and other statutory organisations qualify as project-oriented organisations (POO). There are strong indications to suggest that these organisations' project management (PM) competencies leave a lot to be desired. At face value they purport to be fully fledged project-oriented organisations and performing as competent PM organisations, while in reality they are predominantly dependent on accidental project managers. This paper reports on a study that was carried out in one of the large infrastructure departments in South Africa. The focus is on one of the premiere programmes managed by the department. The management of the programme is scrutinised in order to establish the department/ministry's PM competence. An evaluation of the performance of the programme was carried out in relation to the ministry's mandate in order to assess its PM competence. It is found that the programme in its current form could be described as a 'white elephant' and a programme that does not have an appropriate organisation structure, nor appropriate and sufficient staff to carry out its objectives. The programme's management system is found to be very poor and at the lowest level of maturity (level 1 out of 5). Recommendations are made that the programme in its current form cannot fulfil its mandate successfully without a fundamental overhaul, addressing its organisational structure, personnel qualifications and programme management system.