Question NW1392 to the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
15 November 2019 - NW1392
Van Staden, Mr PA to ask the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
(1) Whether she has been informed of the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card for South Africa issued by the SA Institution of Civil Engineering, which awarded the public infrastructure of the Republic an overall grade of D+, which implies that such infrastructure is at risk of failure; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what (a) are the reasons for the current poor state of maintenance and repair and (b) strategies and action plans with time frames are in place to rectify the situation; (2) Whether she will make a statement on the matter?
Reply:
The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:
1. (a) Yes, the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is aware of the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card as issued by the SA Institute for Civil Engineering (SAICE). The report provide for condition assessment for various civil engineering sectors, which include but not limited to water supply service, roads, airports commercial ports, rail and built environment infrastructure in general.
It must be noted that the report in question acknowledges the high quality of built environment infrastructure produced in the built environment sector (Private and Public Sectors).
Public sector infrastructure is divided, established and implemented in accordance with the mandate of the three (3) spheres of government. At national level, our department is responsible for provision of accommodations (offices and residential) for presidency, parliament, security cluster department and land ports of entries etc.
The DPWI as the custodian of built environment sector is providing guidance to both public and private sectors about the standards and regulations of the industry in order to maintain quality and for ease of maintenance.
(b) DPWI is mindful of the need for continuous maintenance of public infrastructure within our mandate hence we have Repair and Maintenance Programme included in the budget allocated for DPWI Capital projects and Planned Maintenance Programme. The entire population of 81 575 buildings under the custodianship of the DPWI have maintenance backlog at varying degrees. The maintenance backlog is estimated at R74 billion.
The DPWI annual allocation for refurbishments, rehabilitation, upgrades and maintenance programme and still perform current maintenance. To date we have 389 projects on implementation phase (construction) phase with an allocation exceeding R2 billion in the current financial year for maintenance (refurbishments, rehabilitation and upgrades). The balance is expended through day-to-day maintenance as an ongoing programme.