Cape Town — Western Cape MEC for Transport and Public Works, Marius Fransman has singled out the "male dominated" construction industry as the most untransformed sector in the province, saying rapid measures were required to address the problem.

"The construction industry is a prime example of an industry that has struggled to transform itself into one that is more gender representative," he said.

He said while there had been an increase in the number of women-owned construction companies being awarded tenders, the value of the tenders was negligible.

"It's not about the number of contracts that has been awarded to women, it's the value of these contracts.

"For example in the 2004/2005 financial year, the road infrastructure sector had projects to the value of R578.8 million but only 5% (R24.6 million), went to women-owned companies," he said.

With the provincial department having set aside a whooping R1.187 million for roads infrastructure development in the current financial year, Mr Fransman said this huge budget would go a long way in ensuring that women-owned construction companies got a sizeable slice of the pie.

"It is clear that women's contribution in this sector will be significantly increased," he said.

He said 25 percent of all road maintenance and a further 10% of road construction contracts would be targeted at women-owned construction companies.

In a bid to promote women participation in construction, the public works sector four years ago initiated the Mamas Special Projects where building and maintenance contracts worth R19 million had since been awarded to women-owned companies.

Mr Fransman said his department had identified 30 projects worth R12 million which it intends to award only to businesses wholly or partially owned by women.

With values ranging from R130 000 to R1.6 million, Mr Fransman said tenders for some of these jobs would go out as early as this weekend.

"The participation of women-owned businesses has shown a steady growth in our Public Work sector since we began the Mamas Special Projects," he said.

However, he said that lack of technical skills, particularly amongst women, was a major stumbling block in the rise of women-owned construction companies.

"We are concerned about the shortage of engineers, architects and other construction related professionals," he said.

To address this challenge, Mr Fransman said his department had warded 125 bursaries to students who wanted to pursue a career in the construction field, and that 32% of the students awarded these bursaries were women.