A large chunk of global construction companies are seeking projects in Africa. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the lack of skills on the continent – not to mention the low levels of trust between owners and contractors, which has a knock-on effect on project timelines – are major concerns.

This is according to a global construction survey by financial services firm KPMG. Among the 165 senior leaders in the construction and engineering industry polled, almost half plan to move into African prospects. However, nearly 50% of those surveyed are uneasy about the lack of in-house skills, resulting in additional costs associated with bringing in external specialists.

Only a third of respondents said they have a high level of trust in their contractors (60% of respondents ticked off the ‘moderate’ box when it came to having confidence between the two parties).

Just under 70% of respondents identified ‘poor contractor performance’ as the biggest reason for project under-performance.

30 June 2015
Image: Gallo/GettyImages