Gauteng Roads and Transport Department R359 million underspending hampers mobility
23 September 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is shocked to learn that the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport underspent its budget by R359 603 million.
This was revealed in the Department’s Annual Report for the 2018/2019 financial year. According to the report there was under expenditure in the following programmes:
|
Programme |
Allocation |
Money Spent |
Variance |
|
Administration |
R332 154 000,00 |
R285 736 000,00 |
R46 418 000,00 |
|
Transport Infrastructure |
R2 825 907 000,00 |
R2 740 989 000,00 |
R84 918 000,00 |
|
Transport Operations |
R2 537 507 000,00 |
R2 311 691 000,00 |
R225 816 000,00 |
|
Transport Regulations |
R294 077 000,00 |
R291 626 000,00 |
R2 451 000,00 |
|
TOTAL |
R5 989 645 000,00 |
R5 630 042 000,00 |
R359 603 000,00 |
The key culprit in the department's underspending is its shaky procurement processes and overall bad management.
This has caused delays in key, and much needed, infrastructure projects. This was further exacerbated by very poor contract management which saw several projects cancelled due to poor contractor performance.
The effects of the underspending can be summarised as follows:
- Bottlenecks in the issuing of public transport operator licenses;
- A growing backlog in the delivery of new and expanded road network capacity; and
- Increased risk of road accidents due to poor infrastructure maintenance.
This department is in serious need of a turnaround or else Gauteng will be faced with an increased risk of gridlock on its roads as well as violence in the public transport industry due to poor control over licensing.
The DA calls on Premier to implement a special intervention to save the department from itself before its incapacity further impacts on the economy of the province.
Issued by Fred Nel, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Roads and Transport, 23 September 2019
