[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

26 March 2007

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Me Beatrice Marshoff
Colleagues in the Executive Council and the Legislature
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, honourable Nketu
Mayors and councillors
Head of the Department and officials
Distinguished stakeholders
Fellow comrades and friends
Honoured guests and people of Free State Province

Introduction

Honourable Speaker
We are in the middle of the third term of the democratic government. This milestone presents a momentous opportunity for us to asses the progress we are making in our historic mission of building a better life for all.

Our experience over the past 13 years of democracy has reaffirmed our long held conviction that a better life for all is not only necessary and desirable, it is possible. We have laid a solid foundation for a better life for all, real beginnings have been achieved. And there is no going back!

With a thousand daily challenges and complexities, it is easy to lose sight of this. It is easy to forget where we are coming from. It is even possible in the rush of events to forget our objectives. The exercise of claiming our achievements over the past 13 years not only help to inspire hope but also assist us to measure and appreciate the challenges that still lie ahead.

The occasion of tabling this budget vote therefore represents yet another opportunity to asses the progress we are making and most importantly spell out our programme of action over the next financial year. This budget vote is one of our greatest instruments for the pursuance of our revolutionary goal of a better life for all. It will articulate yet another set of concrete steps to be taken in contributing to the realisation of our 2014 vision of halving poverty and unemployment by the year 2014.

Our driving theme that we will articulate in this budget vote is, "Accelerated Infrastructure Development for Building a Better Life for All".

Infrastructure development remains one of the main interventionist pillars of the democratic government to drive for a shared economic growth. It will help meet the basic needs of our people and improve the efficiency of our economy. The 2010 Soccer World Cup will be optimally exploited in the infrastructure development opportunities it presents.

Overview on progress

Speaker, let's pause and make some reflection on the work of our Department in the recent past. The winning of the Makwane Road Project in Qwaqwa as a best Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) project, in the whole country in the national 2007 Kamoso Excellence Recognition Awards this past February, speaks volumes about our performance and sterling work in the EPWP. Our dedicated implementation of EPWP saw a total of 58 contractors benefiting from contractor development opportunities.

This past financial year, we drastically improved our turn-around time for the delivery of the most needed capital projects. This we must state despite the improvements that are still necessary. By early December 2006 we had already exhausted our infrastructure budget and began overspending. In our quest for accelerated infrastructure delivery we built very important social infrastructure facilities in many communities in the Free State. These include schools, clinics, hospitals, antiretroviral (ARV) sites and community halls.

Roads infrastructure development has progressively gained prominence in our infrastructure drive by the nature of its centrality in the economy and particularly in transport movement. We have and continue to construct important access and connecting roads, particularly in the most rural of the parts of the province.

The successful launch of the Taxi Recapitalisation Project (TRP), in Botshabelo in October of last year, was a truly watershed event in the transport sector and history. The profound words of Minister Radebe at that event are worth restating at this stage, "Many years of serious work and dedication to the taxi recap programme are now paying off and have culminated to fruition." It is also appropriate to add that the taxi recap is now in motion! The honour of hosting the national launch of the taxi recap meant that we must sustain the momentum generated by the launch itself in the actual implementation of the TRP.

Our work on broad based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) also assumed an upward progressive trend. Our procurement from BBBEE companies has substantially increased in the over the past period.

We have done some considerable strides in reinforcing the capacity of the Department to deliver on its all important mandate of infrastructure delivery and transport system provisioning. In strengthening the capacity of the Department we have filled all critical post and this was the largest recruitment drive we have done in recent times.

We have stepped up measures to protect our government buildings by deploying more security personnel. The new uniform for our security personnel has gone a long way in enhancing the security image in government buildings.

2007/08 budget

Honourable Speaker, the total baseline of our appropriation budget for the 2007/08 fiscal year is R1,589 billion. This represents 54% increase from the last financial year. It is also a financial expression and concrete articulation of our government's policy position of a bolder assertion of the need for a strong, strategic and economic interventionist state. Infrastructure development has tended to be central in this regard. In achieving this, the Free State Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (FSPGDP) remains our guiding policy framework.

Efficiency improvements

We move from a basic understanding that a strong organisation is key to our success as an infrastructure Department in discharging our mandate. Our capacity has been enhanced by the filling of all critical positions so as to be equal to our mammoth task at hand. We have improved our payment cycle to our suppliers and contractors and further improvements will be effected during this financial year and beyond. The establishment of a policy and research unit will go a long way in enhancing our research and policy capacity for improved service delivery.

Training and capacity building programmes are going to be vigorously strengthened to enhance our internal capacity and in this regard, among others, various learnerships and training courses will be implemented.

The exchange programme we have entered with the province of Saxony in Germany will further enhance and sharpen our engineering skills and capacity in the built environment. Mr Speaker, eight of our youth who have relevant qualifications in engineering and built environment will be leaving for Germany next month. This programme is a product of our co-operation with the German government that was recently concluded.

In line with the intention we have previously declared in this House of introducing measures for attracting and retaining scarce professional skills in the Department, we will enhance our in house training capacity which will enable our technical and professionals to register with recognised professional bodies. This we will do whilst simultaneously exposing our aspirant professionals to mentorship and coaching programmes. This programme will include further professional development for existing registered professionals and 330 bursaries holders are pursuing studies in various scarce technical fields.

We will engage tertiary institutions in the province on the appropriate interventions of accelerating the acquisition of scarce skills in the engineering fields.

Accelerated infrastructure delivery

Department of Public Works

Honourable Speaker, Department of Public Works remains our key strategic function particularly in the context of our mandate deriving from the policy trajectory of infrastructure development for a shared economic growth, as articulated in the FSPGDS. We have over the past period improved our capacity for accelerated infrastructure delivery. Apart from improved expenditure patterns, this has been shown in such improvements as the time for completion of capital projects.

The in juncture of the State of the Nation address (SONA) 2006 also direct us that, "Better supervision of infrastructure projects undertaken by government will be introduced, to ensure that capital budgets are spent without roll-overs and that labour intensive methods are prioritised and the necessary training of workers is carried out to provide them with skills."

It is pleasing, Mr Speaker, that as a Department we have already aligned our planning and implementation processes to give efficacy to the President's clarion call. In this regard I want to thank the honourable Premier and the members of the Executive Council for their deep understanding, total commitment and unwavering support given for accelerated infrastructure delivery.

Over the coming period we are going to further strengthen our delivery capacity. Our main preoccupation will focus to accelerating the delivery of integrated infrastructure for economic and social development. In surging with this mandate we will ensure that there is quality expenditure of all allocated budgets and always strive for maximum impact inline with our economic and social goals of reducing poverty and unemployment.

Under expenditure, roll-overs, sporadic operations and minimal impact are increasingly becoming an established fact as nothing more than our painful past!

We will increase our efforts with regard to direct investments and these should include delivering infrastructure in a manner that steers:

* labour enhanced construction methods (job creation)
* small contractor development
* skills training (particularly in construction, management, financial, literacy)
* local economic development.

One of the fundamental challenges remains the entry and growth of the small contractors. Among problems that pose themselves as impediments include lack of mentorship and support by financial institutions. The escalation of prices as a result of shortage of supplies has also negatively affected small contractors who are in most instances cash trapped. This is over and above the already existing problems of lack of access to material supplies by small contractors.

Mr Speaker we continue to face challenges in the built environment which manifest themselves in the following forms:
* window dressing
* benefit diversion
* opportunistic intermediaries.

The recently approved contractor development policy by the provincial Executive Council will be instructive in introducing a number of interventions for developing small and emerging contractors. This policy intends, as envisaged in the BBBEE, to redress the intentional and systemic exclusion of the historically disadvantaged people from participating in the economic mainstream.

The policy seeks to create a constructive platform for the effective transformation of the building and roads infrastructure sector of the construction industry by first creating an enabling environment, looking at supply side interventions (availability of procurement opportunities) and also ensuring that there is technical, management and facilitate financial support for the contracting entities within the development programme.

The success of the policy will be measured by its ability to create an enabling environment for the development of a pool of contractors that is highly skilled and able to compete with the best both in the development environment and also in the open market for the infrastructure development opportunities.

This policy will target the black people, youth, women and people with disabilities. The targeting strategies will include:

* set aside for Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) lower grades
* prime contracting, sub contracting for intermediate grades
* joint ventures.

We have made arrangements to make CIDB centres more accessible in the province particularly in the urban and remote areas such as Maluti a Phofung and in all Thusong Service Centres. Together with the CIDB we will address the glaring challenges regarding grading and registration of contractors.

Honourable Speaker, our major public works capital projects for this new financial year will include:

* the construction of the first phase of the provincial government building amounting to R20 million,
* upgrading provincial roads district offices in Bethlehem which cost R30 million,
* we will also embark on serious upgrade of the Bethlehem and Harrismith Testing Stations to the amount of R30 million.

Property

Mr Speaker, as we have stated in this House last year that we place the property transformation high on our agenda and that we will transform the property industry, yet challenges on this front still persist. We still spend about 89% of our rented property portfolio from historically advantaged. In our effort to integrate the historically disadvantaged into the economic main stream, we have finalised immovable asset disposal policy that will ensure that we enhance accountability on the use of the immovable asset while we empower historically disadvantaged individuals through asset disposal. This policy will further reinforce the socio economic and political mandate of the provincial government to ensure that there is a noticeable change in the ownership patterns of the immovable assets.

It is pleasing to note that the process of developing a credible comprehensive asset register is almost complete. This we were able to achieve through optimal utilisation of partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and will enhance our property management capacity.

The security of our property is vitally important to our improved service delivery. We will continue to introduce advance measures in the physical and electronic security we perform to immovable state properties. Our security personnel will receive intensive training on pertinent areas of security administration.

Roads

Speaker, roads infrastructure development has progressively gained prominence in our infrastructure drive precisely because of its centrality in the economy and particularly in transport movement. It is very critical to our infrastructure hence it continues to have a greater share of our departmental budget, it constitutes 58% of our budget and has received nearly 100% increase from the previous financial year which translates to R932 million.

Roads, is one area where we performed outstandingly well, we completed most of our projects at shorter execution periods and even started executing new projects. We performed well despite the challenges of capacity and resources. This is a trend, we are going to strengthen and improve, moving forward.

Mr Speaker, the following projects have been completed and/or nearing completion:

* access road between the N1 and Eeufees Street
* Makwane access road
* Vaalpark interchange at Sasol
* the repair of the bridge over the Orange River at Zastron
* the access road to Seloshesa
* the access road between Trompsburg and Jaggersfontein
* the rehabilitation of the paved road between Welkom and Bothaville.

The resounding success of the implementation of the Makwane access road project speaks volumes about the potential that exist for maximising the impact of roads with regard to EPWP. We will, therefore, use most of our roads to upscale the impact of EPWP. We will use roads to help build the provincial economy and at the same time reduce the huge roads backlog that we continue to encounter as a province.

It is for this reason that whilst we will be surging ahead with the execution of some road projects that we have started already, we will implement the following projects:

* the rehabilitation of the road between Reitz and Petrus Steyn
* the replacing of the existing bridge at Wepener with a new bridge which will always be accessible does not matter the magnitude of future floods
* the upgrading of the road between the N1 and Parys
* the upgrading of the road between the N1 and Sasol
* the access road to Koppies Dam
* two access roads joining the Vredefort Dome
* the upgrading of the road between Verkykerskop and Harrismith
* the road between Springfontein and Bethulie.

Signage on our roads poses some challenges for our road users to this end we have set aside resources to attend to this pressing challenge. Some of our road signs are non-compliant. Road signs are key and proper for road safety.

Transport systems and infrastructure

Honourable Speaker, the Premier in the State of the Province address (SOPA) made bold assertions on transport infrastructure interventions that we are going to embark upon which amongst others include:

* the development of the N8 corridor
* Harrismith Logistical Hub
* the revitalisation of rail network and services between Thaba Nchu, Botshabelo and Bloemfontein
* intermodal transport facility in Mangaung

These will be our main anchor transport projects as we accelerate transport infrastructure and services in our province. In collaboration with the national Department of Transport, municipalities and other State bodies planning and implementation have already began.

The drafting of a transport master plan is unfolding and this will be a blue print that will outline our long-term integrated transport plans in the province which will inform all our public transport services and infrastructure.

The Department is finalising the Free State freight data bank .This data bank will assist the province to identify major freight movement and overload management. It will also assist the Department to develop and implement corridor systems that integrate South Africa with the region and the continent. We will develop the provincial freight transport framework which is a tool for planning, operations and implementation of all freight related initiatives within the province.

Inclusive of this mentioned processes will be a feasibility study to be conducted in Thabo Mofutsanyana District, which is our nodal point. This study will seek to pursue the promoting and improving of access and mobility in rural areas so as to link them with industrial areas in conformity with the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP). Once this study is completed, a strategy will be developed to ensure communities access the markets and social services with ease.

The Department together with the national Department of Transport undertook the Harrismith Logistic Hub initial scoping study which has been completed. Given the current situation with regard to location, infrastructure, services, markets and economic of transport by different modes. The potential of large scale logistic opportunities that have been identified are road to road transfer depots and road to rail. The Department will continue to engage key strategic stakeholders to make this project a reality.

Having registered such impressive success in the early stages of the Taxi Recapitalisation Project (TRP) the challenge is therefore to sustain the momentum that has already been generated. We will increase the pace of our scrapping so that by the end of December 2007 we would have scrapped minimum of 3 000 taxi vehicles and also introduce new taxi vehicles on our roads.

Ke motlotlo kajeno, Speaker, ho tsebisa ntlo le setjhaba hore le rona hare itheke morwalo ho etsa bonnete ba hore morero ona oa phethahala. Ho fihla ha jwale ka hare ho profinsi rena le bo-Rathepa ba 2 230 ba ikemiseditseng ho nka karolo ho ntjhafatsa ditekesi tsa bona.

Ke rata ho nka sebaka sena ho etsa kgoeletso ho bo –Rathepa ba sokang ba lata le ho nka di tokomane tsa bona eleng di operating licenses ho etsa jwalo hanghang. Re fane ka nako e lekaneng ho bo-rathepa kaofela, ba o bohle basa arabeleng kgoeletso ena batla iphumana ba le kamosing mme re tla qobelleha ho nka mehato ya semmuso.

Retla tsoella pele ho etsa bo nnete ba hore hona le kgutso le kutloano mekgatlong ya ditekesi. Mme manane koetliso a ditekesi atla tsoella pele ho etsa bonnete ba ho matlafatsa kgoebo ya bo ratekesi.

Motsamaisi wa dipuisano, retla thusa ba kganni bohle ba ditekesi ka manane koetliso haholoholo bao banang le mangolo a ho kganna a code 8 ho fetolela ho code 10 ntle le tefo ya letho. Morero ona o ama feela ka ho qolleha ba angwang ke lenane la taxi recapitalisation. Ba kganni bana batla fuwa se baka sa pele hohle di testing stations tsa rona hore ba fetolele mangolo a bona nntle le tshitiso.

Ho bohlokwa Speaker, ho tsebisa ntlo hore morero wa ntjhafatso ya interstate bus lines oo ka ona re phetahatsang BBBEEE o motjheng, se pabolang morero ona mme se etsa hore otswe tjaro ya mabonwa ke dintja ke hore o kenyeletsa bo ra-ditekesi le dibese tse nyane, kontrakeng eo mmuso o e tshehetsang ka ditjhelete (subsidy) ho etsa bonnete ba hore setjhaba se fumana tshebeletso e tswileng matsoho.

Ka ho tshwana Speaker, lefapha le tjhatsi ho etsa bonnete ba hore Maluti Bus Service e phetahatsa seo ke se hlaloseditseng ntlo ngwahola le ngwahola-kola.

The commencement of construction of the intermodal facility that integrates bus, taxi and rail services in Mangaung, in this 2007/08 financial year will represent earnest preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup transport legacy and we will strengthen our co-ordination and partnership with Mangaung Municipality the host city.

Whilst we note that in past financial year we did not achieve the desired results in introducing improvements in the delivery of services at our testing stations. We recommit never to give up on this important task. The new technologies we are introducing and the training that our traffic officers have and continue to undergo will go a long way in improving service delivery improvements in this regard.

In dealing corruption and long waiting times a blow, the Department will introduce the electronic learners and driver's licenses in our testing stations in the new financial year. The law enforcement strategy to be introduced in the new financial year that will entail cameras and collection of revenue will further enhance our corruption and crime fighting endeavours.

Government garage

Speaker, the fleet management constitutes an integral part in the management of the State assets and operates as a trading entity.

The primary objective of the entity is to provide and support client departments with vehicles and heavy plant. This entity has become a beacon of other provinces as they continuously learn from us to model their government garage operations after our own.

In order to cope with these new demands, we have initiated two programs:

* the rightsising of the fleet and alignment of fleet to the requirements of the users,
* the renewal of the fleet and the replacement of old, obsolete and irreparable vehicles and equipment in order to enhance service delivery.

The Department will be involved in assisting municipalities with fleet management expertise as part of our contribution to Project Consolidate.

We will deliberately utilise some of our disposable fleet to contribute to the contractor development strategy, with a dedicated bias to benefit small and emerging contractors.

The procurement of services with regard to maintenance and repairs of vehicles will also be aligned towards increasing the procurement from previously disadvantaged people. In order to achieve this, the Department will work with the Department of Tourism, Economic and Environmental Affairs in identifying projects that can be funded in the fleet management environment.

Job creation and poverty eradication: EPWP

Honourable Speaker, the achievements we have made in the province with regard to EPWP should enable us to be on a much stronger footing with regard to scaling up the EPWP. This scaling-up exercise is essentially about maximising job opportunities must create. It also covers maximising training and contractor development opportunities.

Infrastructure sector projects as well as those of the social sector will be given more prominence. This, therefore, implies the need for tighter and more improved co-ordinating mechanism on our part. The themes of anti poverty and a better life for all enjoin us to increase the tempo and impact of EPWP. The implementation of the EPWP programme in all four sectors is in deed non negotiable.

In order to sustain the momentum generated by the winning of Makwane access road as the best EPWP project in the country, we will implement the following projects along the same model of Makwane access road:

* Monontsha Border Post access road
* access road to Swartwater Dam-S1502
* access road to the Dome as Phase 2
* access to Koppies Dam
* access road to Thaba Phatsoa

National Youth Service (NYS) programme

The implementation of the NYS through public works and roads projects in construction and maintenance will serve to address the plight of our youth. The needs of our youth are urgent and immense as former President Mandela, once quipped.

The NYS is a concept that is transformative in nature that is broadly defined as involvement of young people in activities that provides benefits to the community whilst developing the abilities of young people through service and learning. The NYS also seek to impart the spirit of service and patriotism in our youth.

In this regard we have already elaborated a business plan whose implementation will cover 500 young men and women who will participate in the NYS programme in areas that will enhance service delivery inclusive of road safety, traffic management, security, support and grader operators. The construction and maintenance of buildings and roads will form part of the second phase.

A recruitment process has also begun and will be concluded soon. The hosting of the national launch of the NYS in the province on the 14 April 2007 will present both an honour and responsibility to perform to the best of our ability on this front.

Our youth are a valued possession of the nation and our government must do all what it can to ensure their all round engagement and development as our catalyst to the future.

Conclusion

As I conclude, Mr Speaker, let me take this opportunity thank the Premier for her leadership, my colleagues in the Executive Council for their unwavering support, members of the portfolio committee for their oversight role, the Head of the Department, Advocate Msibi and members of the senior management, my support staff and all officials in the Department for the excellent work done. My wife and family for the support and tolerance they have given me during my unavailability in time of need. This support has been very crucial in placing infrastructure development at the helm of the mandate of the provincial government.

The observations we have made in this budget speech about the challenges we still face in our quest to achieve the greatest yearning of our people which is poverty eradication and job creation obliges us to summon the wise words of one of the greatest revolutionaries, comrade Che Guevara to call upon all our forces to action:

"So it has to be, so it should be and so it will be companeros. So it will be because you are revolutionaries, creators of the perfect society, human beings destined to live in a new world where everyone decrepit, everything old, everything that represents the society whose foundations have just been destroyed will have defiantly disappeared. To reach that goal we have to work everyday, work in the inner sense of improving ourselves of gaining knowledge and understanding about the world around us, of inquiring, finding out and knowing why things are the way they are and always considering humanity's great problems as our own."

Mr Speaker, this statement reminds us of our fundamental tasks as servants of the people, the task to act with extreme passion and dedication when we discharge our collective responsibility to change the lives of our people for better without fail.

Mr Speaker, I hereby table the 2007/08 budget vote for the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport.

Thank you!

Issued by: Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, Free State Provincial Government
26 March 2007