Executive Undertakings: Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson opened the meeting and said the Committee was going to get a progress update on the undertakings made at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) plenary on 16 March 2021.

Ms Patricia de Lille, Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), introduced her delegation and said they would brief the Committee on progress concerning:

• Undertaking A (Q27) - border infrastructure;
• Undertaking B (Q28) - Pinetown police station; and
• Undertaking C (Q29) - Increasing the value of assets: Refurbish Operate and Transfer Programme, and establishing Infrastructure South Africa (ISA).

Minister De Lille, assisted by Mr Alec Moemi, Acting Director-General of the DPWI, and Mr Thabang Tladi, Western Cape Lead, Infrastructure Investment, Planning and Oversight, ISA, made the presentation on behalf of the Department.

Undertaking A (Q27) - border infrastructure

The Department was looking at finding solutions and testing the market as to what was available to fix South Africa's porous borders. It was also looking at the type of fencing that would be appropriate. The DPWI continuously engaged with the Department of Defence (DoD), the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the Border Management Authority (BMA) on the submission of appropriate user needs and detailed specifications on the nature and type of border movement control barrier. A lot of ground had been covered in determining the products on the market that would be suitable and responsive to long-term needs.

To support the DoD in developing an integrated borderline solution, a request for information (RFI) was commissioned by the DPWI on 28 March 2021. The RFI process solicited an outcome of 16 proposals. These were evaluated, and three submissions were found to be responsive and compliant. They were handed over to the DoD in July 2021 to be utilised for compilation and finalisation of an appropriate integrated borderline solution. In consultation with other relevant security agencies, the DoD considered and finalised the specifications. Various internal engagements within DoD divisions were ongoing to ensure a well-articulated integrated borderline solution. The DPWI would be going to the market as soon as the relevant security agencies submit the final specifications.

Undertaking B (Q28) - Pinetown police station

The DPWI and the SAPS were engaging in a consolidation of leases, particularly for the crime intelligence operations to be incorporated into one site with the SAPS police station in Pinetown. In efforts to repair and renovate the police station, the Department assessed the condition of the facility and registered a fully-fledged condition-based project for all building units except for the cell blocks and the official quarters. The project registration and approvals were granted internally within the DPWI. The project was funded, and the procurement instruction was issued to the regional office in August. The cost estimate from the in-house quantity surveyor (QS) had been determined at R154.2 million.

The DPWI head office was reviewing the scope of work to ensure that the entire facility was maintained. In line with the classification of work, upgrading the buildings was the responsibility of the client department, and SAPS had not forwarded the procurement instruction to the DPWI to register a capital project. The DPWI had appointed service providers to service the critical components of the relevant buildings, including a lift contract for a period of 36 months, and air conditioners that had been maintained using unscheduled maintenance on an ad hoc basis. It had cleared bushes at the site in anticipation of the project to be registered and as part of the day-to-day soft maintenance of the facilities.

Undertaking C - Increasing the value of assets

With undertaking C - Increasing the value of assets: Refurbish Operate and Transfer Programme, and establishment of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA), the Department was putting the first 200 buildings on to the market for refurbishing, where people could use them and lease them from the government. The DPWI had been responsible for conceptualising the programme, aptly named the Refurbish, Operate and Transfer Programme (ROTP).

The programme was planned to be rolled out in two phases. The first phase was a pilot project for the proof of concept (PoC), and the second phase was the long term rollout of the ROTP to the remainder of the additional 200 high-priority facilities. The plan was to collaborate and form partnerships with the private sector, wherein the private sector would invest their resources to refurbish these facilities, operate them for a period of 20 to 25 years, including maintenance, and hand the facilities back to the government after this period. The government would repay the private investor for the duration of the lease through the user accommodation charges collected from the client departments. 

(See the presentation for further details)

Discussion

Mr E Mthethwa (ANC, KZN) asked if there was any possibility that the Pinetown building could be rebuilt elsewhere, since the current building was in a very bad condition.

Ms S Shaikh (ANC, Limpopo) asked what was delaying the DoD from finalising the specifications regarding the border infrastructure.

Mr K Motsamai (EFF, Gauteng) asked when the people were going to finish the One Military Hospital building that had started in 2010, and the Defence Force military hospital in Pretoria. When were the people who had stolen money going to be prosecuted?

DPWI's response

Minister De Lille responded that the One Military Hospital project had been devolved to the DoD. The DPWI was responsible only for the maintenance, but she would collect more details and send a written reply to the Member.

Regarding not finalising the specification with the Department of Defence, one of the reasons for the delays was that the new Minister had to familiarise herself with the subject. Minister De Lille had asked for assistance, since the borderline was in a dire state and was 300km long. It was imperative to start the repairs as soon as possible and make it a strategic infrastructure project, as it would take several years to build a new fence. The Department had learnt a lesson that there was a need to look at the complete borderline of South Africa. They had learnt a lot from the Beitbridge experience. After the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) ruling, the Department decided that the best solution was to build a new borderline. This would assist the DoD, whose constitutional duty was to protect the border. The assistance she had referred to was that the Members of the NCOP could write to the DoD to speed up the conclusion of the specifications. She had requested several meetings, and would engage with the Minister so that the DoD could finalise the specifications.

She added that she would respond to some of the questions in writing.

The meeting was adjourned.