HUMAN Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale yesterday threw down the gauntlet and told MPs his department may need to transfer grants from underspending provinces to other provinces .
Addressing the portfolio committee on human settlements in Parliament, Mr Sexwale said it was a concern that most provinces were not spending all their human settlements grants .
According to a Treasury report earlier this month, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have spent less than 35% of their human settlements grant midway through the financial year. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West have spent less than 45% of their allocation.
Mr Sexwale said the transfer of grants to provinces that can spend the money would be in the interests of service delivery.
"We do envisage that, in the interests of overall delivery in the sector, there may be a need for the transfer of funds from some provinces to better-performing ones," he said.
The provision of bulk infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity were slowing down the government’s housing delivery programmes, Mr Sexwale said.
There could be no viable, let alone sustainable, human settlements without the urgent roll-out of large-scale electrification projects, the construction of new water treatment and sewage processing plants, including pipelines "to bring fresh and clean water to the people".
"The provision of these infrastructural projects after top structures have already been built brings about massive additional costs. The cart cannot be put before the horse," he told the committee.
The government has been struggling to meet its housing targets since the dawn of democracy. It recently estimated that 2,1-million new houses were needed to address the current housing backlog. In 1994 the figure was 1,5-million.
Mr Sexwale cited what he called "living examples" of challenges caused by the lack of bulk infrastructure.
"Human settlements developments south of Johannesburg have almost come to a standstill due, essentially, to the lack of a sewage plant — the estimated cost of which would be beyond R3bn," he said.
"KwaZulu-Natal’s largest new major project, Kornubia, where 50000 houses are planned, is hamstrung by the lack of bulk infrastructure."
But despite the challenges, "the department was on top of the situation", Mr Sexwale said.
His department was working very hard to ensure that by the end of the financial year, no roll-overs should be experienced because of capacity problems, he said.
Housing expert Prof Titos Khalo, a senior lecturer in public management at the Tshwane University of Technology, said by admitting these challenges and indicating what steps needed to be "energised" to heighten housing service delivery in SA, Mr Sexwale appeared to be "on top of the situation".
- BusinessDay - NEWS WORTH KNOWING
Addressing the portfolio committee on human settlements in Parliament, Mr Sexwale said it was a concern that most provinces were not spending all their human settlements grants .
According to a Treasury report earlier this month, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have spent less than 35% of their human settlements grant midway through the financial year. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West have spent less than 45% of their allocation.
Mr Sexwale said the transfer of grants to provinces that can spend the money would be in the interests of service delivery.
"We do envisage that, in the interests of overall delivery in the sector, there may be a need for the transfer of funds from some provinces to better-performing ones," he said.
The provision of bulk infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity were slowing down the government’s housing delivery programmes, Mr Sexwale said.
There could be no viable, let alone sustainable, human settlements without the urgent roll-out of large-scale electrification projects, the construction of new water treatment and sewage processing plants, including pipelines "to bring fresh and clean water to the people".
"The provision of these infrastructural projects after top structures have already been built brings about massive additional costs. The cart cannot be put before the horse," he told the committee.
The government has been struggling to meet its housing targets since the dawn of democracy. It recently estimated that 2,1-million new houses were needed to address the current housing backlog. In 1994 the figure was 1,5-million.
Mr Sexwale cited what he called "living examples" of challenges caused by the lack of bulk infrastructure.
"Human settlements developments south of Johannesburg have almost come to a standstill due, essentially, to the lack of a sewage plant — the estimated cost of which would be beyond R3bn," he said.
"KwaZulu-Natal’s largest new major project, Kornubia, where 50000 houses are planned, is hamstrung by the lack of bulk infrastructure."
But despite the challenges, "the department was on top of the situation", Mr Sexwale said.
His department was working very hard to ensure that by the end of the financial year, no roll-overs should be experienced because of capacity problems, he said.
Housing expert Prof Titos Khalo, a senior lecturer in public management at the Tshwane University of Technology, said by admitting these challenges and indicating what steps needed to be "energised" to heighten housing service delivery in SA, Mr Sexwale appeared to be "on top of the situation".
- BusinessDay - NEWS WORTH KNOWING
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