Provincial Treasury calls for improved spending on infrastructure projects
The North West Provincial Treasury would like to see improvement in infrastructure performance and spending by provincial departments and entities. This was emphasized by MEC for Finance, Motlalepula Rosho in her infrastructure performance review engagements with her counterparts from provincial departments.
MEC Rosho said Provincial Treasury is concerned about the slow infrastructure spending in the first quarter of the financial year and projected spike in spending on the fourth quarter. Poor planning is at the heart of the problem. Most departments could not achieve the 25 percent spending on infrastructure projects in the first quarter of the current financial year.
MEC Rosho said the slow spending trend does not augur well for the province and this can only be managed if departments develop clear and specific infrastructure spending and delivery plans. Departments have been requested to draft and submit recovery plans with specifics and realistic cashflow projections which should indicate on how they are going to improve spending.
“The issue of underspending and poor performance on infrastructure impacts negatively on service delivery. Planning for infrastructure should be at the core of the agenda of changing the people’s lives,” she said.
She said that “there needs to be value for money and where there is poor delivery of projects, service providers should be held accountable. Penalties should be meted against such service providers including blacklisting of such service providers.”
MEC Rosho said considering the current infrastructure delivery challenges in the province, the Provincial Treasury will implement the “No plan no budget” approach and that only projects that are ready for implementation will be funded moving forward.
Enquiries: :
Kesalopa Gill
Cell: 079 5486352
Tel: 018 388 3584
E-mail: kgill@nwpg.gov.za
