Question NW1284 to the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services
23 May 2016 - NW1284
Shinn, Ms MR to ask the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services
(a) what amount of the R1.2 billion allocated to broadband in his department’s Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2016-17 to 2018-19 financial years is allocated to SA Connect and (b) what is the detailed breakdown of items the specified allocation will be spent on in each of the specified financial years; 2) (a) what steps in line with the Public Finance Management Act, Act 1 of 1999, are being taken to select a lead agency for SA Connect, (b) what skills are required of the lead agency and (c) what documents, such as requests for proposals, have been published in this regard to invite private sector participation in the (i) planning, (ii) project management and (iii) execution of the programmes under SA Connect up to the latest specified date for which information is available; 3) Whether any funds allocated for SA Connect have been spent in the (a) 2015-16 financial year and/or (b) since 1 April 2016 to the latest specified date; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; 4) What amount of funding allocated for SA Connect in the 2015-16 financial year rolled over to the 2016-17 financial year?
Reply:
1. (a) R1.54 million is allocated for the implementation of SA Connect Phase 1.
(b) The allocated amount will be spent to procure broadband connectivity services for the Phase 1 sites. Detailed Breakdown:
|
Budget Allocation (Million) |
|||
|
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
Total |
|
336 600 |
422 300 |
711 900 |
1 450 800 |
2. (a) The Department is engaging with SITA to explore options of the appointment of the service provider that will be in line with the existing procurement legislations and regulations.
(b) The lead agency should be an organisation with the following capabilities:
(i) To coordinate between public & private sector players,
(ii) To raise funding to expand fibre infrastructure,
(iii) To rollout simultaneously in all the phase 1 districts as per the Broadband Implementation Plan,
(iv) To leverage on existing infrastructure to minimise duplication.
(c) The Department is engaging stakeholders to finalise the appointment process and no requests for proposals have been published yet.
(i) - (iii) See (c) above
3) (a) In the 2015/2016 financial year R200 million was allocated for this project of which R100 million was transferred to Sentech for dual illumination and R50, 240 million to SAPO for the National Address System.
(b) No funds were spent since 1 April 2016. Because the department was engaging with the relevant stakeholders to finalise the appointment process.
4) In the 2015/2016 financial year R200 million was allocated for the project. An amount of R49, 760 million was rolled over.