Question NW1016 to the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
19 May 2022 - NW1016
Zondo, Mr S S to ask the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
(1)What (a) number of government properties are leased to third parties and (b)(i) departments have currently hired private facilities to house offices for the Executive and (ii) are the reasons that the departments have hired the specified private facilities; (2) whether she has considered utilising existing government buildings to house offices for departments; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? (2) whether she has considered utilising existing government buildings to house offices for departments; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure
(1)
(a) I have been informed by the Department that it is currently leasing out about 1288 state-owned properties.
(b)
(i) There is no department that has hired a private facility for an Executive.
(ii)Not applicable
2. The primary mandate of the Department is to provide functional state-owned accommodation to various User Departments. The Department at the point of request for accommodation – does consider using State-Owned Facilities – however, in many instances – they are not readily useable nor available in areas identified for the executive. This is where the Department then considers using the private leases. In recognizing that there are challenges – the department has embarked on the following strategies in order to address overreliance on the private sector.
- Refurbish, Operate and Transfer Model for more office space;
- Precinct Development. Building head offices for Departments eg the Salvokop Precinct in Pretoria which will house five government Departments
- Lease to own model for smaller service delivery nodes in remote areas where there are no buildings.