Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has appointed a 41-member interim rapid response team to deal with problematic projects in the province.
The team which directly reports to the acting head of department Dr Vish Govender has been given 60 days to unlock all the 38 projects, for the benefit of the public, that have been identified as problematic by the department.
Speaking to the Daily News on Friday, Govender said most of these problems were inherited from the previous term.
Govender said the problematic projects includes abandoned or hijacked buildings and unpaid contractors, unauthorised expenditure and financial misconduct adding that the team comprises engineers and other professionals in the department. Govender said the team is based in the department’s head office while some members are also situated in all our four regions.
The department has complained about payment delays which caused the delays in paying contractors within the stipulated 30-day period. The department was engaging the Treasury about the matter.
Govender said if the DPWI builds a school for the Department of Education or a clinic for the Department of Health, these departments must pay the DPWI immediately after completion of the projects so that contractors could be paid within the 30-day period, as dictated by the government policy.
The department has announced that it has asked Treasury that all the department must ringfence the money that has been budgeted for capital projects, saying the problem has been that the departments use the money irresponsibly.
Govender said that the DPWI team will also deal with abandoned or hijacked buildings so that they can be repurposed, for instance turning them into either government offices or housing units.
Part of the team’s work will be to find an amicable solution to the 300 government houses that are illegally occupied in Ulundi north of the province. The houses which include a number of flats were housing then KwaZulu government ministers when the legislature was still in that area. The department also said there are about 20 government houses which are also hijacked in Umhlathuze Local Municipality, in Richards Bay.
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Daily News