Programme Director
Paolo Bonissone
The Italian Delegation
Mthunzi Mdwaba
Simon Mattioli
Karen Gale
Adv Brenda Madumise
Gwarega Manghozhe
It is an honour for me to address this esteemed gathering of business powerhouses and to welcome our guests from Italy. Today, I would like to share with you some of the challenges my department experiences within the construction industry as well as plans and initiatives the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) will undertake in the current financial year.
Background
Upon arrival at DID in July last year, I commissioned a departmental scan, with an objective to identify strengths and weaknesses, and craft appropriate response plans. Among the findings on the state of the department was a need to review integrated systems in the department, skills shortages in key strategic and operational areas as well as an inappropriate organisational structure. At the time, the composition of the department’s human resources was 80% administrative staff, and just 20% technical staff.
For a department like ours, the picture is actually supposed to be the other way round, with the balance tilted in favour of technical staff, by at least 70 – 30 percent respectively. We have over the past year undertaken a concerted drive to recruit the technical expertise that will enable us to execute the construction and maintenance work we are mandated to undertake on behalf of various client departments.
Thus far we have recruited 214 technical staff, including 143 artisans and 71 engineering professionals. This is a clear indication of our commitment to strengthen the state’s technical expertise and thus radically improve the quality of service delivery. During the 2013/14 fiscal year we will continue relentlessly with our drive to attract and retain appropriate technical expertise required at all levels. This commitment is reflected in the amount of resources allocated to human capital development. 33% of our budget is for salaries and remuneration, inclusive of R 21. Three million for business process re-engineering to implement the infrastructure delivery management system (IDMS) model. IDMS is our core operating framework, which requires substantive investment in achieving the certification of our professionals with the relevant professional bodies.
2013/14 Projects
DID’s budget allocation for this fiscal year increased by 4% from the previous year representing a total budget allocation of R 1.47 billion. We plan to deploy these allocated financial resources efficiently in order to achieve maximal positive impact on the lives of Gauteng citizens.
Ensuring a long and health life for all citizens is a top priority of our Government. A big part of doing that is ensuring that quality health care services are rendered in appropriate and adequate infrastructure. In the last fiscal year we carried out projects to the tune of R 409 million aimed at improving health infrastructure. In this fiscal year we will undertake 21 refurbishments and upgrades at hospitals, clinics, including psychiatric and neonatal wards, at health facilities such as Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic, Tambo Memorial, Pholosong, Kopanong and Tembisa, among others.
Since November last year, there are nine schools that are currently under construction across the Province. Chief Albert Luthuli Primary and Noordwyk High School are examples of what we can deliver with good project planning, budgeting, and project management. It also affirms our strategic bias in favour of emerging women entrepreneurs in our procurement policies. Both schools have been built by women led contractors Motheo and Clear-Choice Construction, within record time. Chief Albert Luthuli was completed within record time of less than four months.
Key school construction projects for this fiscal year include the following:
- Fourteen new schools
- Twenty-nine restorative projects
- Thirty teen grade R classrooms
Setting Gauteng on a Sustainable and Green Trajectory
The position of Gauteng as the centre of the Nation’s economic activities has obvious environmental consequences. The Gauteng Spatial Development Framework explicitly recognises the environmental impact of economic activities and the need to address this challenge. In support of this initiative to address environmental concerns as well as urban and inner city renewal programmes (articulated in the Provincial budget speech), the department undertook a research tour of Asia to investigate how Gauteng could benefit from best practices.
Using these lessons, the department is proactively engaging with the Gauteng Planning Commission (GPC) to develop the Gauteng Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (GIIMP), which will deal with the dual concerns of environmental degradation and equitable growth. Concurrently, the department has embarked on a Green Strategic Programme, which attempts to meet the expectations of the GPG in prioritising the reduction of C02 emissions while creating green jobs within the Province. The Green Agenda concept for the department was formulated in March 2013. Thereafter, the Request for Information (RFI) was advertised and closed on the 2nd of August 2013 for the green agenda concepts. Furthermore an RFP for a Transactional Advisor for Green Agenda was done in conjunction with Gauteng Funding Agency (GFA) and the bid evaluations have been concluded.
The Green Agenda Concept includes:
Roof-top Solar PV Rollout Programme
The department has embarked on a project to quantify the usable roof space in all government owned buildings in the Province. It is estimated that all government buildings have approximately eight million square meters of roof top space that can be used for the mass roll-out of solar panels in the province. If all the available roof spaces could be utilised, up to 300MW of electricity could be generated from government buildings.
We are of the view that a mass roll-out of solar panels in the province can be used to spark a massive demand for the solar PV technologies; which in turn can spark the development of a solar manufacturing industry in the Gauteng Province. Experience gained in South Korea indicates that a solar panel manufacturing facility can be built from a demand of approximately 12MW/month. The potential demand of electricity by DID alone could sustain a standard factory for a period of two years.
A pro-bono RFP will be released for the flagship project at the head office for the Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) (known as Corner House).
Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme
The department has partnered with ESKOM to conduct energy audits for all GDID owned facilities i.e. Hospitals, Community Health Centres, Provincial Clinics, and Precinct buildings with a view to retrofit energy efficient technologies in all buildings to reduce energy consumption and energy costs. Inefficient technologies will be replace with HVAC’s, motion sensors and natural lighting where possible. To date, 190 clinics and 15 precinct buildings have been audited. The DoE together with V-NAMA have identified 15 GDID owned facilities where smart metering systems will be installed.
Natural Gas
The concept study has been done and feasibility studies have been conducted by iGas to identify the gas pipelines nearest hospitals to hospitals. As part of the process EIAs are also being conducted. The Green Technologies Unit is part of the Inter-Governmental Regional (IGR) forum and has sat in meetings with City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, West Rand and Sedibeng District Municipalities in order to consolidate the demand for gas molecules required by the Province.
There are currently 77 boilers in hospitals in the Gauteng province previously fuelled with coal. A retrofit program is underway to replace all boilers with natural gas/diesel boilers. Since natural gas is cheaper, cleaner and more efficient, a tri generation plant has been proposed for Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital to reduce the energy costs of the facility. This technology can further be rolled-out to other academic hospitals.
The Green Technologies Unit (GTU) has also formulated a Green Building Policy which was approved by the HoD of Infrastructure Development. The policy will govern the construction of green compliant infrastructure in the Province.
Leading Infrastructure Maintenance
Our diagnosis of the infrastructure related challenges at our health facilities suggest a proactive approach to our maintenance regime and rapid response to breakdowns. With this in mind, we have developed a support structure that is best captured as ‘Twenty-Four -Seven, Three Sixty Five Strategy. It commits us to:
- Attend to minor breakdowns within 24 Hours
- Major breakdowns within seven days
- And carry out major refurbishments within 365 days.
At the heart of this strategy is deployment of skilled professionals, including artisans, engineers, technicians and inspectors at hospital level. Our plan is to have these skilled workers, who are able to carry out day to day maintenance as well as respond to emergencies. To further enhance turnaround times and quality of work we have engaged the big hardware retailers to explore inventory management solutions that will ensure that replacement parts and consumables are available just-in time. This will ensure that niggling maintenance challenges are addressed swiftly as they arise, and that there’s no need to go through the whole procurement value chain for minor day to day maintenance. R10 million has been allocated for the implementation of the maintenance service delivery strategy.
One of critical elements of the 24/7/365 strategy is the provision of tools of trade to all DID artisans including cell phones, toolboxes and vehicles. Last week Thursday, we achieved a significant milestone, the first batch of 52 toolboxes for the artisans at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (CHBAH) was delivered. The rest of the toolboxes for all other regions shall be delivered during this month. DID has invested over R9,659,571 to ensure artisans are fully equipped to carry out maintenance services at health facilities.
Community Based Programmes & Expanded Public Works Programme
The Minister of Finance in presenting the 2013/2014 budget clearly stated that social spending is not a substitute for job creation and therefore job creation remains a priority. Hence as part of sustainable development all Government initiatives need to innovatively promote employment creation as an integral part of their daily services to the people.
Furthermore, the National Development Plan has highlighted initiatives such as Expanded Vocational Education as a strategic response to youth employment. The Department implements the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), National Youth Service (NYS) and Accelerated Artisan Training Programme (AATP) as platforms to promote skills development and develop work experience.
During the current financial year we will continue to leverage our infrastructure spend to stimulate the economy by among others ensuring the empowerment of emerging enterprises through preferential procurement that prioritises women, people with disabilities and youth, in the construction sector. R 224 Million has been allocated for Community Based Programmes.
R 130 Million will be dedicated to the revamped Expanded Public Works Programme, particularly to the provision of training and creation of jobs for targeted groups. For the 2013/14 financial year our target is to create 118 581 employment opportunities at Provincial level, and 77 289 at Municipal level, through the revamped EPWP. Of those, we are targeting 65 220 women beneficiaries, 47 432 youth beneficiaries and 2372 people with disabilities. These beneficiaries epitomise the poorest of the poor and whilst the EPWP gives them skills and work experience, the programme cannot ensure the absorption of these beneficiaries. I urge business represented here today to make contact with my department with a view to participating in the EPWP and looking at how you too can contribute to poverty alleviation and skills development in Gauteng.
Supply Chain Management
In order to align our procurement processes with our stated developmental outcomes, while at the same time ensuring value for every cent of taxpayer’s money we spend, our supply chain management processes are currently under review. Our SCM unit is currently implementing the electronic supplier database which will be localised with more emphasis on cooperatives, youth, women, people with disabilities, quotation management as well as contract management. We are also reviewing SCM policy, business processes, charters and delegations in order to improve turnaround times.
Measures we have implemented to curb fraud and corruption include the compilation of a risk register. Goods and services are procured according to Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) targets in the 2012/13 FY, 116 contracts were awarded to black owned enterprises, six contracts to youth owned enterprises and 81 contracts to women enterprises.
In closing
Honourable Guests in the words of the celebrity statistician, Hans Rosling: “To get away from poverty, you need several things at the same time: school, health, and infrastructure - those are the public investments. And on the other side, you need market opportunities, information, employment, and human rights”.
Over the last four years, the Department of Infrastructure Development has made consistent inroads to realise these public investments. It has been a bumpy journey but we are committed to accounting to our people to ensure that you see where your Rands are going and what infrastructure is being built. The Department of Infrastructure Development remains focused and steadfast in our commitment to transforming the department to be the premier construction and project management organisation of the Gauteng Provincial Government, which holds its own against players in the private sector, in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation.
I thank you.
