Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has warned Members of Parliament that fundamental problems with the provision of bulk infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity are slowing down Government’s housing delivery programmes.
“There is real cause for concern,” he told the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements in Cape Town today.
Sexwale cited a Treasury report – issued by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on 18 November – which raised “disquiet” at under-spending by provinces on capital expenditure. In that report, Gordhan stated: “In aggregate, provinces have spent 33% of their combined capital budgets. This is a decline of 23.5% when compared to the same period in 2009/10.”
“Within this context, Human Settlements in particular is experiencing varying degrees of under-spending in provinces,” Sexwale said.
Two provinces in particular – Limpopo and Northern Cape are “ahead of the curve” midway through the financial year. “But there is cause for concern in respect of others and room for improvement,” he said.
According to Minister Gordhan’s report, three provinces – Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have spent less than 35% of their human settlements grant midway through the financial year. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North-West have spent less than 45% of their allocation.
Sexwale said the main risk to meeting delivery targets “is the challenge of providing bulk infrastructure to human settlements projects”.
“There can be no viable – let alone sustainable human settlements without the urgent rollout of large scale electrification projects, the construction of new water treatment and sewage processing plants, including pipelines to bring fresh and clean water to the people.
“We cannot continue to dot the landscape with top structures without providing bulk services below the ground,” he said. “In addition, there is the added need to provide roads, storm-water drainage and streetlights.
“The provision of these infrastructural projects after top structures have already been built brings about massive additional costs. The cart cannot be put before the horse.”
Sexwale cited what he called “living examples” of these challenges:
“Human settlements developments south of Johannesburg have almost come to a standstill due essentially to the lack of a sewage plant – the estimated cost of which would be beyond R3 billion,” he said. “KwaZulu-Natal’s largest new major project, Kornubia – where 50 000 houses are planned – is hamstrung by the lack of bulk infrastructure.
“In the Eastern Cape, the 5 000 unit Thornhill project in Port Alfred is at risk. 500 units have been completed and are due to be handed over in two weeks’ time. A lack of bulk services – in this case, major waterworks such as a desalination plant to treat sea water, a plant to clean river water, or construction of a new dam – is delaying the rollout of the remaining 4 500 homes.”
He added: “What is even more onerous is that the mandates for the rollout of these critical large-scale bulk infrastructure projects do not lie with the Human Settlements Ministry. Thus the need for a more integrated, planned and coordinated approach across relevant national departments.”
Sexwale reassured the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements that his ministry is “on top of the situation”.
“We are working very hard to ensure that by the end of the financial year, and also by the end of this term, no rollovers should be experienced because of capacity problems. Nonetheless, we do envisage that in the interests of overall delivery in the sector, there may be a need for the transfer of funds from some provinces to better-performing ones.”
Enqueries:
Chris Vick, Special Advisor to Minister Tokyo Sexwale
Cell: 083 556 7644
Source: Department of Human Settlements
