Gauteng’s infrastructure at risk of further decay
1 February 2018
Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe indicated that infrastructure maintenance was one of government’s key priorities.
This echoed his sentiments in August 2016, when he announced that an action plan would be developed to ensure greater expenditure on municipal infrastructure maintenance. In addition, he indicated that the plan would enforce proper financial asset management to ensure an extended lifespan and increased quality of infrastructure.
He went on to say that R1.3 trillion of assets are in jeopardy because of insufficient maintenance. It has been fifteen months since he first made the undertaking yet little has been done to achieve this plan. In fact, the situation has regressed.
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, under the leadership of MEC Jacob Mamabolo, has slashed infrastructure maintenance budgets and deteriorating infrastructure contradicts the undertaking made by national government that greater control over assets would be implemented.