Question NW1332 to the Minister of Tourism

Reply:

(a) What steps is her department taking to eliminate delays in the implementation of the Working for Tourism projects

The Working for Tourism Programme supports both skills and infrastructure development projects. There are different reasons for delays in these two types of projects.

• Skills development projects are typically delayed as a result of not being able to find suitable service providers, due mainly to non-responsiveness of the bids received. The Department now conducts compulsory briefing sessions for open bids in order to clarify the requirements of the terms of reference as an attempt to address this challenge.

A panel of service providers was appointed for various skills programmes to fast track the appointment of implementers

• The Infrastructure Projects have been deliberately delayed through a management decision to halt all infrastructure projects while and extensive review process was undertaken. This review process was conducted in 2016/17 on behalf of the Department by the Government Technical Advisory. Committee (GTAC), an agency of National Treasury, of both individual projects as well as the entire implementation system. The review was necessary as there had been challenges in the implementation of the infrastructure projects which needed to be fully understood. As it would have been noted, the infrastructure project remains a challenge for the department and currently reviewing all past projects so that decisions can be taken about them individually. The intention is to ensure we recover the lost resources through law enforcement agencies so that we can conclude some of the projects.

(b) What are the deadlines, Milestones and timelines of each specified project

• The skills training programme that was delayed is the food safety programme. The procurement of the service providers will be in place by the end of January 2020.

• The AG report highlighted substantial challenges and as a result, the infrastructure projects that were deliberately delayed have not yet re-commenced. Once evaluation process has been concluded we will report to parliament with Wayforward