05 November 2007
national government has launched an emergency intervention plan for the Eastern Cape‘s ailing housing department, withdrawing R500-million in conditional grants earmarked for the province and appointing project managers from the private sector to assist in housing delivery.The national department said the province had no capacity to spend its budget, and that the withdrawn funding would be given to other provinces which had projects ready to be implemented.The decision was taken at a Minmec (Minister- MEC) meeting held at parliament in Cape Town last week.National housing director general Itumeleng Kotsoane yesterday said there was a serious shortage of capacity in the province to deliver houses.“We will appoint project managers from the private sector to assist the province. It is a joint effort between the province and the national department. We are very concerned about the slow pace of delivery.“The province relies heavily on municipalities for housing delivery, but municipalities do not have the capacity to build houses.”He said municipalities should continue providing the land and the provincial department should deliver on its mandate of building houses.“We have put in a proposal,” he said. “We are buying skills from the private sector in the form of paid project managers to assist the province.”Kotsoane said the Eastern Cape was delivering below its budget and a certain amount of national funding would be “diverted” to other provinces whose projects were ready for implementation. “The current expenditure and delivery patterns of the province are not good.”He said the fear was that if the money was not spent during a particular financial year, it would be taken back by the national treasury. “We do not want to lose that money,” he said.The Eastern Cape was allocated R1,052-billion by the national treasury for the current financial year for the Integrated Housing and Human Settlement Grant. Of this, R386-million had been transferred to the province. The Eastern Cape had spent R95,3-million – or just under 25 per cent.Kotsoane also said a lot of money was being kept in municipalities‘ trust accounts, including Nelson Mandela Bay.“This is because there are disputes between different parties – politicians and municipal administrations – on how the money should be spent.”He said the national department would appoint auditors to look into how funds were being spent and what was happening to the interest accrued from unspent funds.Housing MEC Thoko Xasa confirmed that half of their budget for this financial year had been taken by the national housing department.She said her department had presented its turnaround strategy at the Minmec meeting. The strategy was aimed at calling all housing delivery stakeholders to assist the province.“This strategy is not going to work overnight, it needs time. We are first looking at emergency cases – those houses destroyed by storms, and people living in floodplains.”She said it was projected that the provincial department would spend about R888-million by the end of the financial year. About R300-million was in the trust accounts of municipalities in the province. Personnel from the national housing department would be deployed in the province to assist.According to a report compiled by the provincial housing department as part of its turnaround strategy, there are 484 projects to be implemented this financial year, 60 of which involve the repair of houses damaged by the 2004 and 2005 storms.
national government has launched an emergency intervention plan for the Eastern Cape‘s ailing housing department, withdrawing R500-million in conditional grants earmarked for the province and appointing project managers from the private sector to assist in housing delivery.The national department said the province had no capacity to spend its budget, and that the withdrawn funding would be given to other provinces which had projects ready to be implemented.The decision was taken at a Minmec (Minister- MEC) meeting held at parliament in Cape Town last week.National housing director general Itumeleng Kotsoane yesterday said there was a serious shortage of capacity in the province to deliver houses.“We will appoint project managers from the private sector to assist the province. It is a joint effort between the province and the national department. We are very concerned about the slow pace of delivery.“The province relies heavily on municipalities for housing delivery, but municipalities do not have the capacity to build houses.”He said municipalities should continue providing the land and the provincial department should deliver on its mandate of building houses.“We have put in a proposal,” he said. “We are buying skills from the private sector in the form of paid project managers to assist the province.”Kotsoane said the Eastern Cape was delivering below its budget and a certain amount of national funding would be “diverted” to other provinces whose projects were ready for implementation. “The current expenditure and delivery patterns of the province are not good.”He said the fear was that if the money was not spent during a particular financial year, it would be taken back by the national treasury. “We do not want to lose that money,” he said.The Eastern Cape was allocated R1,052-billion by the national treasury for the current financial year for the Integrated Housing and Human Settlement Grant. Of this, R386-million had been transferred to the province. The Eastern Cape had spent R95,3-million – or just under 25 per cent.Kotsoane also said a lot of money was being kept in municipalities‘ trust accounts, including Nelson Mandela Bay.“This is because there are disputes between different parties – politicians and municipal administrations – on how the money should be spent.”He said the national department would appoint auditors to look into how funds were being spent and what was happening to the interest accrued from unspent funds.Housing MEC Thoko Xasa confirmed that half of their budget for this financial year had been taken by the national housing department.She said her department had presented its turnaround strategy at the Minmec meeting. The strategy was aimed at calling all housing delivery stakeholders to assist the province.“This strategy is not going to work overnight, it needs time. We are first looking at emergency cases – those houses destroyed by storms, and people living in floodplains.”She said it was projected that the provincial department would spend about R888-million by the end of the financial year. About R300-million was in the trust accounts of municipalities in the province. Personnel from the national housing department would be deployed in the province to assist.According to a report compiled by the provincial housing department as part of its turnaround strategy, there are 484 projects to be implemented this financial year, 60 of which involve the repair of houses damaged by the 2004 and 2005 storms.
The time is right for moladi to assit in this backlog of non delivery!