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Johannesburg - Engineers are being "recalled" by the public works department due to a lack of skills in the sector, it said on Tuesday.
Workshops, which had been closed for over five years, had housed skilled workers to "respond speedily and render services" to communities.
The closure of the workshops meant a loss of skills and unemployment for many skilled engineers.
The department was not able to respond immediately on why the workshops were closed in the first place.
Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde said: "We always hear talk of scarce skills in the country as the reason for outsourcing most of the construction projects commissioned by government to large multinational corporations. Now we want to test this notion of scarcity.
"I am of the opinion that within the broader community of this country there is capacity, ability and willingness to handle successfully most of these services that are usually outsourced," she said.
She called for qualified engineers and artisans with experience in the construction sector to submit their curriculum vitaes to the national department of public works.
A database of engineers and artisans will be created to help the department with infrastructure projects, job creation and skills development.
The aim would be to address the shortage of artisans in the country.
"It has been found that the average current age of an artisan is 55 years and the minister of higher education has indicated that 70 000 artisans have to be trained within the next five years," the department said.
Workshops, which had been closed for over five years, had housed skilled workers to "respond speedily and render services" to communities.
The closure of the workshops meant a loss of skills and unemployment for many skilled engineers.
The department was not able to respond immediately on why the workshops were closed in the first place.
Minister Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde said: "We always hear talk of scarce skills in the country as the reason for outsourcing most of the construction projects commissioned by government to large multinational corporations. Now we want to test this notion of scarcity.
"I am of the opinion that within the broader community of this country there is capacity, ability and willingness to handle successfully most of these services that are usually outsourced," she said.
She called for qualified engineers and artisans with experience in the construction sector to submit their curriculum vitaes to the national department of public works.
A database of engineers and artisans will be created to help the department with infrastructure projects, job creation and skills development.
The aim would be to address the shortage of artisans in the country.
"It has been found that the average current age of an artisan is 55 years and the minister of higher education has indicated that 70 000 artisans have to be trained within the next five years," the department said.
