WESTERN Cape Premier Alan Winde on Tuesday announced the introduction of a new infrastructure department within the provincial government.
This, he said, after careful consideration, will be created through the merger of the provincial human settlements department, and specific components of the transport and public works department, including the Western Cape’s property portfolio and road programmes.
Since 2019, the provincial government has spent over R19 billion on infrastructure across departments.
“Two departments, in particular, are primarily responsible for this spend, that being the department of transport and public works and the department of human settlements. Together, they are responsible for spending R18bn on new projects over the next three years and they have a combined total budget of R11.5bn in the 2021/22 adjusted budget,” he said.
The decision was also influenced by the existing structure of the provincial government which has no individual infrastructure department where Winde said all the programmes can be carefully considered and aligned to ensure the greatest impact.
“It is my view that this needs to change, especially if we are going to focus, innovate and do more with less, to push back against going back to normal, so that we push forward to do even better,” he said.
Furthermore, Winde said the new department will be tasked with leading the change, working together with local governments in the province, the national government as well as the private sector to ensure quality catalytic infrastructure projects that will help create jobs in an inclusive way.
The provincial government will embark on a detailed consultation programme with all stakeholders and will provide regular updates both internally and to the public, so that this process is efficient, fair and transparent.
Winde added that the plan is to match the new department with job-creating infrastructure by committing the funding it requires to succeed. “While the (MEC of) Finance and Economic Opportunities will set out his plans to budget for this priority in more detail next month, I can today also confirm that we plan to substantially increase our infrastructure spend over the 2022 MTEF (medium-term expenditure framework.”
POLITICAL BUREAU