Initiative aims to end era of failing municipal infrastructure

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with three local government municipalities across three provinces to improve infrastructure delivery.

The Minister signed the MoUs on Friday May 9 with the uMngeni Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State and Govan Mbeki Local Municipality in Mpumalanga. This project was part of the pilot phase of the Adopt-a-Municipality initiative to improve infrastructure delivery at local government level.

The first-of-its-kind Adopt-a-Municipality initiative - adopted by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Council in November last year - will see Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) work with municipalities to introduce rapid infrastructure interventions, the Minister said.

This will help improve the implementation and delivery of infrastructure projects, ensuring that more projects are completed on time and within budget. The objective is to address cost overruns, poor workmanship, and inadequate planning - challenges that have frequently plagued municipal infrastructure initiatives, said Minister Macpherson.

“The initiative will help us address the often chequered track record of infrastructure delivery at local government level across South Africa. We will ensure that infrastructure budgets are properly spent; that projects are properly prepared; that project cost overruns are avoided, and poor workmanship is addressed,” the Minister said. “With this initiative, we are trying to change the narrative surrounding local government infrastructure projects and bring an end to the era of failing municipal infrastructure, as we see in many places across the country.” 

Minister Macpherson said while they are launching the project in three municipalities, they intend to replicate the model countrywide in the months and years ahead.  This initiative will play an important role in achieving the goal of turning the country into a construction site with more infrastructure projects successfully executed to stimulate economic investment, grow the economy and, most importantly, create jobs, the Minister added.

Following the signing of the MoUs, the scope of ISA’s involvement with these three municipalities will include, among others:

• Project preparation and planning;
• Collaboration with municipalities and strategic partners to efficiently package projects and programmes;
• Assisting municipalities in developing robust and bankable business cases to attract funding from both public and private sectors;
• Streamlining approvals, authorisations, licences, and permissions to expedite project implementation and address regulatory bottlenecks that may hinder progress; and 
• Implementing effective monitoring mechanisms to track project progress, ensuring accountability and the timely completion of infrastructure developments.

A digital dashboard will also be developed on ISA’s website to enable the respective Mayors, the Minister and government officials to monitor progress on infrastructure projects and address any emerging challenges promptly.

“With the launch of the Adopt-a-Municipality project, we are seeking to deliver tangible results from the policy interventions we have introduced since taking office. This is in order to meaningfully improve infrastructure delivery.” Minister Macpherson said. “It is one of the key initiatives being implemented in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to expedite infrastructure development as we work to build a better South Africa for all our people.”