Originally from Dar es Salaam, Jared came to Botswana in 1998 and joined his friend in V A Associates (Pty) Ltd, a company that provides professional services and advice in Civil Works, Infrastructure, Water and Structural Engineering. The company also provides project management from feasibility studies to implementation stage right through to training and initial project operation.

He has been in Gaberone for 6 years now and says it is getting increasingly difficult to get contracts as competition for the few available jobs increases daily due to the large number of consulting engineering companies.

It is even more difficult for foreign companies. Two factors impact on foreigners trying to work in Gaberone. Firstly, Botswana professionals have opened up consulting firms, and secondly the government has a good policy of empowering Botswana citizens, with most jobs going to locals. This leaves precious few opportunities for foreign companies.

Jared is a member of both the Botswana and Tanzanian Institutions of Civil Engineers and is also a registered engineer. "My continued stay in Botswana will depend on job availability and how business prospects pan out," he says wistfully. "If work comes, I shall stay; but if nothing comes along, I will have to look for alternatives elsewhere," he says with no trace of bitterness. "I just have to be patient and wait."

"I have done a few jobs in Botswana. V A Associates has undertaken numerous joint venture Engineering Consultancy services with other firms and I was part of the team on some of the projects covering mainly civil works. There was a joint venture with Roughton International, for the rehabilitation of a 71km roads project from Mahalapye to Palapye, as well as the design and supervision of the access roads from the main road to Kgotlas. The rehabilitation involved reconstruction and widening of the pavement and associated drainage structures."

"We did another project with Roughton, which was a shoulder sealing and widening of roads through villages located throughout the country.. A number of villages were involved, including Serowe, Palapye, Kanye, and Molepolole."
 

"We have also done joint venture work with CPP Botswana which involved detailed design and tender documentation for Goodhope and Tonota villages, covering internal roads  and storm water drainage infrastructure development. We were responsible for the roads design, while CPP did the drainage, and another company did the streetlighting. Environmental Impact Assessment for both projects was also carried out by another company."

V A Associates has also just completed another project for Kasane and Kazungula land servicing phase two which involved design of roads, storm water drainage, water and sewerage reticulation.

"I have been using Civil Designer and AllyCAD for 5 years now and it works very well. It is very good; and I don't use any other software. The updates always come in time and help me a lot."

Before coming to Botswana in February 1998, Jared was working in Tanzania with M Konsult Ltd, a company that was involved with big projects in association with international partners. In association with Scott Wilson UK, he was part of the team that carried out feasibility studies and prepared engineering design reports, tender and other contract documents for the rehabilitation of 10 airports across Tanzania.

"I was primarily responsible for three airports; Mwanza, Arusha and Sumbawanga. The work involved topographical surveys, soils and materials investigations, pavement investigations, and detail design of runways, aprons and taxi ways."

In collaboration with M/S CES of Germany, he was involved in the planning and design of an urban water supply for the towns of Moshi and Arusha in the northern part of Tanzania. "I was responsible for the hydraulic analysis and design, preparation of the construction drawings, the bills of quantities and the cost estimates for pumping station.

"I also did the field inventory, the design of the water supply and sanitation systems, as well as all the tender documentation and construction supervision for 3 towns in northwest Tanzania.

"But I am a roads engineer first and foremost, and I really enjoy designing roads because that is where my heart lies," he says with broad smile.

Adlai E. Stevenson, the famous American lawyer once said, "on this shrunken globe, men can no longer live as strangers." Jared Mrema subscribes to this view.