generation centres with the Brick Laying Ceremony at the New Kimberly
Generation Centre Site
31 October 2006
Minister of Correctional Services, Ngconde Balfour, today announced the
beginning of construction of six new generation centres with the formal
unveiling and the bricklaying ceremony at the site of the new Kimberly
generation centre.
Addressing a government Imbizo at the site, Minister Balfour said the
construction in Kimberly will benefit hundreds of locals and emerging local
contractors at a cost of R650 million.
He said the site will be handed over to the awarded contractor LTA
Consortium, a consortium of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partners, to kick
start construction. Minister Balfour dismissed media allegations that the
department has not conducted a feasibility study for the new Kimberly
generation centre, saying the Accounting Officer, the Commissioner, has
complied with the Public Finance Management Act requirements in Section 38 (v)
in terms major capital expenditure programmes.
"This approach is acceptable in terms of treasury regulations and is by no
means any breach of the law," he said.
Minister Balfour said the Nigel and Klerksdorp new generation centres, which
together with the Kimberly centre, were announced by the President during the
2002 State of the Nation Address, will also commence building as opposed to
last weekend's media reports that alleged that the construction programme had
come to a halt. However, the construction of the Leeuwkop centre will be
delayed due to a combination of a complexity of issues, amongst them,
environmental assessment challenges.
"The East London, Port Shepstone and Allandale (near Paarl) announced by the
President in 2004 will also commence after some delays," said Minister Balfour.
The feasibility study for these centres has been completed and the department
is now studying the reports. The department will make an announcement as to the
construction route and timelines for these centres in due course. Polokwane,
which is amongst the set of these centres, will not be built soon due to land
acquisition and feasibility study challenges.
Minister Balfour acknowledged the delays in the construction of the new
centres due to the annual escalation of costs for construction which impacted
on service delivery and also the need for the department to conduct feasibility
studies for the construction of the new centres, which was a quite a lengthy
process.
He dismissed weekend media allegations that the savings of the department as
shown in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, for the "non utilisation of
prison space" meant that the construction of the new generation centres had
become a flop.
Minister Balfour said the savings merely meant that projected budget
allocation not utilised in this current financial year, is returned to Treasury
in terms of the agreement with the Department of Correctional Service. This
will reflect as surplus and will be accessible for utilisation in the
infrastructure budget projection for the next financial years. This was done
due to delays in procedures required for capital expenditure work, such as the
need to conduct feasibility studies.
Enquiries:
Luphumzo Kebeni
Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 082 453 2244
Issued by: Department of Correctional Service
31 October 2006
Source: Department of Correctional Service (http://www.dcs.gov.za)
