More Cuban water engineers for SA

More Cuban water engineers for SA

PARLIAMENT - Government has negotiated another agreement with Cuba for
the secondment of engineers and hydrologists from that country, Water
Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica announced on Tuesday.
Opening debate on her budget vote in the National Assembly, she said the
new plan involved a “two-prong approach”.
“A team of engineers from Cuba will be seconded to the department (of
water affairs) to facilitate service delivery and undertake
on-the-job-training of our technicians. We have also been offered to
send students for training in Cuba.”
She told MPs the Cuban engineers already in the country had already
trained 1 000 South African technicians.
Government has identified lack of skills as a major impediment to the
acceleration of service delivery in the sector.
On the number of engineers to be seconded to South Africa, Sonjica told
a media briefing earlier on Tuesday the figure would be agreed on at the
next sitting of the bi-national commission in September this year.
However, the Cubans were prepared to “give us as many (civil engineers,
hydrologists and geo-physicists) as we want”, within the limit of their
own needs, she told journalists. – Sapa.

23/05/2006 12:28:39
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