Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the media.
We called you here today to share with you some of the exciting plans in the pipeline for the 2013/14 financial year. The aim is to shed further light on how we as a province will deliver on the key pronouncements made by our national and provincial leaders in the state of the nation and the state of the province addresses, respectively. As you know Infrastructure Development continues to be a key strategic focus of government in the sustained endeavour to grow the economy and create jobs. Education,health and youth employment are significant components in the plans announced in both President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation, and Premier Nomvula Mokonyane’s state of the province addresses, as well as the budget speeches of Minister Gordhan and MEC Nkomfe.
MEC Nkomfe’s budget speech for example has identified safety in schools as part of the enabling environment needed for quality education necessary to develop productive citizens. The task falls squarely on our shoulders as DID to see to it that we create that enabling environment for learning, in the way we design, and build schools in the province.
The Gauteng budget speech also noted the status reclassification of Helen Joseph, Tembisa and Kalafong hospitals to academic hospitals while Natalspruit hospital and Zola/Jabulani hospital will be commissioned in the 2013/2014 financial year. Beyond building and delivering these facilities to the Department of Health, ours as Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) is also to ensure that appropriate capacity is in place to respond to the expected support from GPDID that will enable these hospitals to serve the purpose they’ve been designated for.
In his speech, minister Gordhan highlighted the plan to spend R827 billion on infrastructure. Of this, approximately R 430 billion is for building of and refurbishment of schools, hospitals, clinics and dams, provision of sanitation, electricity generation and transmission, prisons and other social infrastructure. Much of the social infrastructure build programme will fall within the competency of Provincial Government and it’s important that we ensure that we have the capacity to see to the efficient and effective rollout of this crucial programme of government.
It is almost eight months since I took office as the MEC for Infrastructure Development.
Focus of this portfolio in the first eight months has been on realigning the department, and building its capacity to deliver on its crucial mandate. The Department of Infrastructure Development is an essential cog in the machinery that is the Gauteng Provincial Government, as it facilitates the work and therefore holds the keys to successful delivery by client departments such as Education, Health and Social Development, among others.
In my last briefing in September last year, I pointed out the disproportionate staffing ratio as one of the key challenges hindering the Department’s efficiency and effectiveness. For a Department poised to be the premier construction company of the Gauteng Provincial Government, a ratio of 80% administrative staff versus 20% technical staff is unacceptable.
Since then we’ve gone on a concerted drive to recruit the technical expertise that will enable us to carry out the construction and maintenance work we are mandated to undertake on behalf of client departments. Part of assembling this cohort of expertise has included recruiting a new Head of Department, Mr Bethwell Netshiswinzhe, whom I’m pleased to introduce to you today. Mr Netshiswinzhe is a seasoned administrator, and he was previously a divisional executive at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. We have also appointed new Deputy Directors-General responsible for Capital Works as well as Maintenance and Green Technologies, Makude Kekana and Martin Mkhabela respectively. We are also in the process of filling the position of Chief Financial Officer, and you can expect an announcement in this regard, quite soon.
In addition, we’ve also in the past eight months appointed more than 162 technical staff, including engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and artisans as part of our determination to ensure that we deliver projects of high quality, on time, within scope and within budget. The result is that we are making steady progress towards our target of having a dedicated project manager for each and every construction site. This approach helps the Department monitor performance of contractors, but also helps us meet our obligation to pay contractors, especially small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) within 30 days of invoice, as required by the PFMA.
Allow me now to give you a glimpse into the vast array of work we are undertaking as part of our mandate as a Department.
DELAYED PROJECTS
I want to start with one of those aspects of our work that has rightfully attracted much interest and concern from yourselves as the media; the issue of long-delayed, unfinished, significant capital works projects.
Part of the reason we decided to host this media briefing here at the New Natalspruit hospital was to shine the spotlight on these long delayed projects and show the real work that has been done in the past year to really accelerate their completion.
As you can see this hospital is nearly complete.This project has taken 6 years to complete. Six years in which the cost has escalated by R 600 Million Rand, from the initial allocation of R 1.1 Billion to R 1.7 Billion Rand. This hospital is actually a case study of why I’ve insisted on making the completion of high quality projects on time, within budget and scope, the mantra of this department. Such project cost escalations are simply an unacceptable drain on public finances and have to stop. If any project vindicates our decision to increase the technical expertise at the Department’s disposal to ensure timeous completion of projects, it is this hospital. In addition to the contract escalation and professional fees that accrue during project delays, unsavoury elements such as theft, sabotage and vandalism then creep in when a project is not completed timeously.
Zola/Jabulani hospital
I’m also pleased to announce that the Zola/Jabulani hospital project is also at completion stage, and will actually be wrapped up by the end of next month. The amount spent on the project is currently R 685,500,422. As we sit here, a partial hand over of the site is taking place to allow the Department of Health to start fitting the hospital equipment. A few weeks ago, the Department of Health began advertising key hospital management positions in the print media, which is a signal of the imminent completion of the facility and its availability in the near future, to meet the health care needs of communities in the Soweto area.
Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa Secure Care Centre
This project has also been under the spotlight recently. The original project site hand over to then contractor happened in September 2007. But the contract had to be terminated in 2009, for non-performance. The project was idle for two years, while there was litigation over the contract termination, during which time, vandalism, sabotage and theft occurred. The initial project cost was R98.9 million in 2007, but already R132 million has since been spent to date inclusive of the previous contract and the current completion contract to the amount of R35 million. it will take a further R16 million to complete the Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa Care Centre project. This again is totally unacceptable and will not continue on my watch. The commitment we have from the contractor on site is that major work will be finished on this facility by the end of April, but some additional work such installation of the security and CCTV systems will be completed by August this year.
HM Pitje Stadium
Upgrades to this stadium are at 95% completion and the stadium has since been handed over to the City of Tshwane. Thus far, R121 635 653.93 has been spent on the project. The delays were largely due to a halt in construction work to allow for usage during the 2010 Soccer World cup, and other contractual issues.
Magaliesburg boarding school facility
Construction of the Magaliesburg boarding facility is progressing well, and the anticipated completion date is September this year. R44.7 million has been spent on this project to date. We are particularly excited about this boarding school, as it will signal our intent to be a leader in Green technology innovation. The facility will supplement its power needs with solar energy as well as a bio-digester plant, which will use waste to generate electricity. This, as far as we can ascertain is a first in the public education infrastructure sector in the country.
June 16 Memorial Acre
Progress on this project has thus far been unsatisfactory. We have placed the contractor on terms to better manage performance .. As I said upon my appointment to this portfolio, a business as usual approach, in which contractors bore no responsibility and were not held accountable for project delays are over. The total cost of the June 16 memorial project is R35 114 662 with a completion date of May 2013
Boipatong Youth and Memorial Centre
Boipatong Youth and Memorial Centre has experienced several disruptions due to protest action from the community. We are currently working to resolve this. The project is at 88% completion and total budget is R39,985,833.
Premier’s official Residence
I’d like to turn now to yet another area that evokes great passion among members of the media; the maintenance of the Provincial Government Property on Ecclestone Drive Bryanston. Allow me to outline the principles that underpin our ongoing maintenance of this property. The Department of Infrastructure Development is mandated to among others manage and maintain the property portfolio of the Gauteng Provincial Government for the optimum benefit of all citizens with an emphasis on maximising access, utilisation and value.
With this mandate in mind, a few points need to be made about the Premier’s official residence;
- The property is relatively old and has over the past few years required some major refurbishments and particular attention to niggling issues of ongoing maintenance, for it to continue to optimally serve the purposes it’s meant to serve.
- Some of the challenges that have cropped up with the property in the past few years include; cracks on the walls due to the geological location of the property, which a report by independent consulting engineers described as “under-consolidated, collapsible and compressible”. The cracks are predominantly visible in the bedrooms, study, and first floor balcony and patio.
- The same consulting engineers also expressed concern about inadequate water drainage between the ground floor balcony and the lawn, which they said causes excess water to settle too close to the foundations.
- Let me at take this opportunity to reinforce MEC Mandla Nkomfe’s statement over the weekend, and state again for the record that the Gauteng Provincial Government has no intention or plan to spend R7.5 million over the next three years on maintenance of the Premier’s official residence.
- As stated by MEC Nkomfe, the figure of R7 million reflected in the third year of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (2015/16 financial year) was the result of erroneous capturing during the budget drafting process. MEC Nkomfe has committed to a rigorous process to retrace the origins of that error to ensure that it does not recur.
- The only confirmed budgetary allocation for Ecclestone Drive is the R120 000 (one hundred and twenty thousand rand) allocated for the 2013/14 financial year.
- The figures of R400 000 (four hundred thousand rand) for the 2014/15 financial year and R500 000 (five hundred thousand rand) are the correct estimates for the subsequent two years of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Property Management
Among the strategic objectives of the Department of Infrastructure, is the management of the provincial government’s property portfolio for the optimum benefit of all citizens with an emphasis on maximising access, utilization and value. As a Department, we are aware that there is a great number of our commercial and residential property tenants who are currently not paying market related rentals, and thus free-loading off the Gauteng government and robbing the public purse of income.
I am now in a position to announce details of the grace period I announced last week for commercial and residential property tenants currently not paying market related rentals to approach our departmental headquarters at Corner House, Johannesburg, to regularise their statuses.
The process to negotiate and regularise tenant statuses shall run from the 1st of April to the 31st of May. Tenants are urged to approach the Department during this time and take advantage of this grace period, because it is the first clear signal of our intent to rigorously enforce lease conditions and the payment of market related rentals. The days of living in a decent government house located in a comfortable middle-class suburb and expecting to pay R 500 per month are over! As stated, part of the regularisation process will include accommodating those tenants who wish to carry out DID approved upgrades to the properties they live in, in lieu of which they will be exempted from paying market related rentals for six months. But after that grace period, market related rentals shall be enforced strictly. We commend those tenants currently paying market related rentals and urge them to continue doing so.
We are aware that the occupants who are not paying market related rentals include 44 DID officials who have contravened the implementation of Market Related Rentals. We are now enforcing a policy of zero tolerance to the continued contravention by officials of the very laws we are entrusted to uphold. DID has over the past few years attempted to engage with illegal occupants in an effort to amicably resolve the matter of Market Related Rentals. However, these engagements have been unsuccessful, and the time has now come for DID to act swiftly and strongly against those of its own officials that continue to wilfully flout the law and disregard policy.
Commercial and Recreational Facilities.
The Roodeplaat Dam, Vaal Dam, Emoyeni, and Randjiesfontein properties and Nature Reserves are strategic properties that require investment in order generate maximal revenue. However alternative funding mechanisms are necessary in order to realize this. We are exploring various options around these properties of the Gauteng Provincial Government, including Public Private Partnerships where viable.
State of Healthcare Infrastructure
As an implementing agent for other GPG departments , one of our two biggest clients is the Department of Health. The state of Health delivery infrastructure receives attention from yourselves in the media more than any other work that we do as a Department, and rightly so.
Towards improvement of the infrastructure necessary to enable health care workers to do their jobs, we have over the past year intensified the implementation of ‘Project 274’ whose sole focus is the upgrade and refurbishment of electro-mechanical infrastructure across the province. The allocation for this massive project was R 274 Million in the 2012/13 financial year and will be R 211 Million for completion of the various projects in the 2013/14 financial year.
The objective of Project 274 is to ensure that things such as lift failures , generators malfunctioning in the event of power outages and boilers not functioning are eliminated, from the challenges doctors and nurses have to deal with on a daily basis.
As a result of this intervention, I can now confidently stand before you and say that in the event of a power outage, generators at Chris Hani Baragwanath and the generators at Charlotte Maxeke will power the hospitals. Allow me to briefly mention the key successes scored as part of Project 274 to date:
Lifts
As part of Project 274, we embarked on a programme to replace 116 lifts at various health institutions. Key highlights in this regard include the replacement of 12 lifts at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. I’m pleased to announce that six more lifts were commissioned yesterday (Tuesday 12/03/12) for use by the public, bringing to full completion the lift replacement project at Chris Hani Baragwanath.
The lifts equipment material for Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital has arrived on site. 12 Lifts have been stripped and installation has commenced. Lifts installation work is at various stages, and progressing very well at all other sites including Dr George Mukhari, Tshwane District Hospital, Rahima Moosa and others. In fact I can confidently say, without fear of contradiction, that by August this year, there will be no problems with lifts at major provincial and district hospitals in this province, quote me on that!
Boilers
Project 274 targeted the replacement of 23 boilers at various health institutions across Gauteng. Many of these boilers are either at the fabrication stage or are enroute to site. The main challenge with boilers is the fact that there is a limited number of boiler manufacturers in South Africa and therefore the lead time is rather long. As part of our green energy innovations, we are embarking on a multi-year project to replace all coal fired boilers with gas boilers. This will reduce the Carbon footprint of our hospitals and with the recent gas finds off the East coast of Africa, and the prospect of Shale gas from the Karoo, the price of gas is forecast to decline. Gas boilers also have the added advantage of lower maintenance costs.
Generators
We had set out as part of Project 274 to replace 28 generators at health care centres, to ensure that patients’ lives are not placed in peril and delicate healthcare supplies such as vaccines are not compromised when power outages occur. This included the installation of generators to 12 central Gauteng primary health care clinics, at a cost of R4 million.
As stated earlier, work to install and maintain generators at the province’s healthcare facilities has progressed so well that I can now confidently assure you that in the event of a power outage, generators at central hospitals such as Chris Hani Baragwanath now kick in without fail. This was proven during an 8 hour outage in the Diepkloof area this past Sunday, during which our generators kept the hospital running without a glitch. Challenges occasionally arise elsewhere in the power supply chain, for instance with the electrical reticulation at Charlotte Maxeke, as well as issues of sabotage at Chris Hani Baragwanath, but these do not originate from generators failing to start.
Most of the generators we’re installing are programmed to generate an error SMS, which is automatically sent to the maintenance teams, in the event that the generator cannot kick in for any reason.
Laundry equipment
Healthcare laundry works are an essential service. It is part of my mission in this Department to ensure that challenges such as the ones experienced in the recent past at Provincial laundry works like Masakhane and Dunswart are resolved once and for all. In the past, challenges at these 2 central laundry works made the work of doctors in theatres, midwives and nurses difficult, with laundry backlogs the order of the day. Contractors are on site at both Masakhane and Dunswart as we speak, refurbishing the two sites with new laundry equipment, as well as attending to the replacement and upgrades to the boilers on site. I am confident that once this work is complete, the shuttling of piles of dirty laundry to be washed overnight at Chris Hani Baragwanath’s new state of the art laundry, will be a thing of the past. The expected completion date for the laundry upgrades at Dunswart and Masakhane is 31 August 2013.
Chillers
Of the 34 chiller plants we set out to replace, we’ve successfully completed 28, with two still in progress, and four set to be re-advertised.
Electrical Reticulation
One of the biggest challenges facing the Departments of Infrastructure Development and Health is that many of the provincial, and district hospitals are actually quite old now. With age, things like electrical reticulation, that is your distribution boards, your cabling, switches etc, begin to deteriorate and become unreliable, at times hampering supply to large sections of the institution. This was the case at Charlotte Maxeke earlier this year when there was a power outage. The generators as I said kicked in, but encountered a reticulation related problem, causing the power to trip. This is why an upgrade of the reticulation system at Charlotte Maxeke is top among our priorities. We’ve embarked on a drive, as part of Project 274 to upgrade the electrical reticulation systems of 15 healthcare sites. I’m pleased to announce that we have completed 10 of these sites, with three more due for completion this week.
Autoclaves and Change-over switches
To end on a really high note, we’ve completed all 71 Autoclave replacement projects, and all 10 Change-over switches we had targeted as part of Project 274.
Education Infrastructure Provision
The provision of sound education infrastructure is one of our government’s key objectives. Access to quality education ranks among government’s top five priorities, which in our province are summed up in terms of eight key outcomes.
In this regard, we are on track towards completing five new school projects in the coming months:
- The Chief Albert Luthuli Primary School- This school under construction in Daveyton is really the sterling example of our approach to building schools in Gauteng. Constructed in record time of 4 months, by a woman contractor, this school is due for completion by the 30th of April, and I’m sure you’ll agree that for a site handed over to the contractor on the 16th of November last year, this is record delivery indeed.
- Palm Ridge/ Edena Park Secondary school- Early stage construction is progressing well. The Contractor is currently working on General Brick Works, External Works, Sports Facilities, Parking and Paving. The anticipated completion date is 31 May 2013
- Slovoville Primary school- Early stage construction is progressing well. The Contractor is currently working on General Brick Works, External Works, Erecting the Site Boundary Fence and some bulk excavations. The anticipated completion date is 03 July 2013
- Northriding Secondary School -Construction at Northriding Secondary School has been lagging behind somewhat and a letter of warning has been issued to the contractor. The Contractor is currently working on Brickworks for the Superstructure, Foundation Concrete Works, Concrete Slab Reinforcement and some bulk excavations. The anticipated completion date is 26 July 2013
- Noordwyk Secondary School- Commendable Progress has been made at this project too, with some of the blocks already at roof level in a matter of weeks since we visited the site last month and found it at foundation level. The Contractor is currently working on Main Buildings Superstructure and roofing, General External Works, Paintworks and Paving, with an anticipated completion date of 30 April 2013.
We’ve recently appointed contractors for four more schools:
- Steve Bikoville,
- Freedom Park Secondary
- Mamelodi East Primary
- Naturena
We are in the process of finalising contracts with these contractors and we anticipate that we will hand over the sites to them next week. Each project will cost about R55 000 000 and the projects will be completed by December 2013. We will be holding them to high standards and will not accept undue project delays.
In addition to these schools that I’ve just mentioned, we will build 21 new schools in the province this financial year. Emphasis will be on timeous completion of school building projects. Experience with some of the contractors we’re working with on the current school projects has shown us that building a quality school does not have to take a whole year. The Albert Luthuli primary school is a good example of this. The woman contractor carrying out that project took over the site in mid-November, with the construction holiday looming. But as we speak today, just four months into it, the project is wrapping up and the contractor will be off site by the end of April. We are not prepared to settle for anything less than this kind of diligence, and contractors who offer excuse after excuse for project delays will not find a sympathetic ear with us.
Our approach to building schools is about innovation, from the school design, building material choice, energy source, water, and even sporting facility choices. As demonstrated in schools like the New Magaliesburg boarding facility and others, we are serious about embracing green technology. Many of the schools we are building will be fitted with solar panels where practical. They will also be built to use as much natural light as possible, fitted with water harvesting pumps and tanks, as well as combo-courts which allow for various sporting codes such as basketball, netball and tennis.
Driving Gauteng’s Green Agenda
As the premier construction company of the Gauteng Provincial Government, with the added responsibility to maintain the facilities we build, it is our responsibility to lead innovation in building and energy technologies that will ensure sustainable development of this, South Africa’s economic bastion. Allow me to quickly mention some of the key innovations we are embracing in the area of Green and renewable energy.
a) Solar energy: With the amount of solar radiation we receive, we see solar energy as the key and most viable and practical renewable energy source for this province.
b) As a department we’ve quantified total roof top space available for the mounting of solar panels on government buildings across the province, to meet some of our energy needs. Total government roof top space available for this project is estimated at 8 Million square metres. Our technical teams are currently in the process of assessing how much of that 8 million square metres is usable, as well as the structural integrity of the buildings. We are of the view that a mass roll-out of solar panels in the province can be used to spark sizeable demand for the solar energy. Gauteng can utilize this demand to spark the development of a solar manufacturing industry in the province.
c) Natural Gas: Gauteng province has the most developed natural gas infrastructure in the country.
d) There are currently 77 boilers in hospitals in the Gauteng province fuelled with coal. A retrofit program is underway to replace all boilers with natural gas/diesel boilers.
e) The existing natural gas infrastructure belonging to Sasol gas and Egoli gas has been earmarked to provide the back bone for delivering natural gas to hospitals in Gauteng.
f) Since natural gas is cheaper, cleaner, more efficient and safer, a Trigeneration plant has been proposed for Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital to reduce the energy costs of the facility. This technology can further be rolled-out to other hospitals.
g) In addition to an audit of health facilities located along the province’s natural gas pipeline, which we are doing jointly with respective municipalities , we are also identifying facilities located in close proximity to landfill sites that can be used to generate methane gas to meet some of their energy needs.
h) As stated earlier, the new boarding facility we’re constructing in Magaliesburg, will meet part of its energy needs through a bio-digester, that will use waste to generate electricity.
i) We’re also in the process of concluding a memorandum of understanding with Eskom on the retrofitting of government facilities and buildings with energy efficient technologies that would reduce government’s energy bill.
We have outlined these successes and targets of the past financial year, not to claim to have achieved all we set out to attain. Our intention is to signal very clearly that the days of a business as usual approach to infrastructure development are over. Our approach to project delivery is centred on the objectives job creation, localisation and contractor development. In partnership with the Construction Industry Development Board we are providing support to lower grade contractors, which includes enterprise development and mentorship.
Our budget vote for the 2013/14 financial year, will outline in greater detail our programmes, plans and allocations for our final year of this political term. Our intention is to put pedal to the floor and really finish strong.
I thank you.
For further enquiries please contact:
Thulasizwe Simelane – MEC Qedani Mahlangu’s spokesperson
Cell: 081 031 3518
Tel: 011 355 5004
Email: Thulasizwe.Simelane@gauteng.gov.za
