MEDIA RELEASE

SANRAL grows knowledge economy at Southern African Transport Conference

Gauteng, 14 July 2024 – The South African National Roads Agency (SOC) Limited (SANRAL) flew the flag for the South African Institute of Civil Engineering (SAICE) by
leading the discussion on ‘Critical Thinking Through Project Development’ at the Southern African Transport Conference in Pretoria last week.

“At SANRAL we advocate for membership of professional associations and our membership of SAICE creates a platform for collaboration, skills transfer and knowledge sharing among
civil engineering professionals,” said Alan Robinson, SANRAL’s Network Planning Manager.

“As the past Chair of SAICE’s Transport Division and the portfolio lead for course development, I was privileged to lead a very knowledgeable SAICE team that developed the
content for the day. We demonstrated the importance of widening the engineer’s scope of thought through critical thinking.”

Robinson said this was to ensure all factors influencing designs were considered and to understand how each element fitted into the overall project.

He said, “Younger engineers must always question why they are doing what they are doing to understand how their work fits into the overall system.”

The discussion topics covered most aspects of transport planning including:

• Transport systems
• Sustainability
• Transport planning
• Geometric and road pavement designs

“Using critical thinking through all elements of project design encourages engineers to apply their minds. They need to fully understand ‘the question’ to formulate an appropriate
response, while being mindful not to work in silos,” Robinson added.

The conference, which took place from 8 to 11 July at the CSIR ICC in Pretoria, brought together thought leaders, policy makers, academics and captains of industry under the
theme ‘Upskilling and reskilling the transport industry for current and future challenges’.

The event attracts more than 700 delegates each year.

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