Question NW3457 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

(a) Monitoring addresses planning, project implementation and project management, including time, quality and budget/expenditure in a project. These are interrogated and a sample of projects are visited. Based on the findings from these visits, remedial actions are devised with the province and monitored by the DBE.

•Monitoring deals with both programme and project matters;

• Programme matters include;

-The pattern of overall expenditure being achieved;

-Comparisons of expenditure to projected cash flows;

-Progress being made with key groups of projects [e.g. Water, sanitation, maintenance, new schools, additional classrooms etc.]

-Management of the portfolio of projects [i.e. evidence that the programme of projects is being managed effectively through the project cycle]

• •At the Project level the focus is on ensuring ;

-that PSP appointments are being made;

- that planning and design processes are progressing;

-that the appointment of contractors is progressing, that construction is progressing satisfactorily, [i.e. on programme, on budget, at acceptable quality…];

and that projects are being handed over and closed out and that final accounts are being wrapped up.

(b) Monitoring can be conducted through various means as follows:

-Ministry and DG Infrastructure meetings; Meetings with individual implementing agents; DG meetings with CEO's of implementing agents and operational meetings with implementing agents

-Site visits by the Director General; Site visits by the Infrastructure unit, Site visits by the programme Support Unit. 

- Provincial officials attend monthly site meetings with Professional Service Providers and contractors ; and 

- as well as ad hoc / unannounced visits to projects.