Report of the
Portfolio Committee on Public Works on the Budget and Strategic Plan of the
Department of Public Works and its Entities on the 2008 – 2011 Budget Vote 5 of
the Estimates of National Expenditure,
This is a report on the Department of
Public Works and its Entities on their Strategic Plans and the Budget Vote,
Vote 5 of the Estimates of the National Expenditure
The Department: Department of Public Works
The
Entities: Independent Development Trust (IDT), Agrément
South
Background
The Constitution of the
Guided by the Constitution and Rules of
Parliament, the Committee has to scrutinise the
Strategic Plan documents of the Department and its Entities in order to see if
the funds requested are aligned to the objectives as stated in the respective
strategic plan documents.
Introduction
The Report gives an analysis of the 2008-2011 Strategic Plans of the
National Department of Public Works (NDPW) Independent Development Trust (IDT),
Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Council
for the Built Environment (CBE) and Agrément South
The briefing by the NDPW and interrogation by the Committee focused on
the responsibilities of the NDPW as set out hereunder:
·
Provision and management of land and accommodation to
national departments and public institutions;
·
Leadership given to the construction and property industry by
the department;
·
Co-ordination, monitoring and the implementation of the
EPWP;
·
Adherence and conformity to the requirements of the Public
Finance Management Act of 1999 (PFMA) and Division of Revenue Act (DORA);
·
Support given to entities by the Department; and
·
The role and the responsiveness of entities to their
assigned mandates.
1. Strategic
Plan and Budget of the Department of Public Works
a)
The DPW’s strategic plan is
premised on the Government’s pledge in the
State
of the Nation Address “to work together to realise
the core aspiration of our people
to attain a better life for all”;
b)
The DPW is also responding to the President’s call for
“business unusual” by
sketching out the
department’s response and role towards the achievement of the Government’s set out objectives.
1.1 Departmental programmes
and budget allocations
a)
Programme 1: Administration:
Over the MTEF period the budget of the
Administration programme
rise by an average of 9,2% mainly as a result of the
department’s relocation costs as well as additional allocations for
accommodation costs;
b)
Programme 2: Provision of
land and accommodation: Over the MTEF
period the budget of the programme
rise by an average of 11% as a result of growth in the allocations for
Provincial property rates, Asset management projects and Augmentation of the
PMTE;
c)
Programme 3: National Public
Works Programme: The budget of programme
3 grows by an average of 19,1%
over the MTEF period owing mainly to sizeable increases in the budget of the
EPWP, which grows by R30 million 2008/09, R50 million 2009/10 and R80 million 2010/11;
d)
Programme 4: Auxiliary and
associated services: This programme sees a
modest increase of
5, 9% mainly to cater for inflation. From R25, 9 million in 2008/09 to R28,9 million
in 2010/11
1.2 The Department plans to allocate funds
to the following major infrastructure projects
a)
A number of assets will be acquired/upgraded for the Re Kgabisa Tshwane project which
aims to keep National Government head offices within the inner city of
b)
Around R1billion will be spent on the upgrading, maintenance
and improvement of immovable assets of the state;
c)
The Border Control Operational Co-ordinating Committee (BCOCC’s), funds to be utilised in
improving the border post facilities in part to facilitate the preparations for
the 2009 FIFA Confiderations Cup and 2010 FIFA World
Cup.
The DPW’s budget for the 2007/08 financial
year equals R3, 7 billion and for the 2008/09 financial year equals R4, 1
billion
2. Business
Plans and Budgets of the Entities reporting to the Department of Public Works
2.1
Construction Industry Development Board
(CIDB)
a)
The CIDB mandate is to provide
leadership and an enabling regulatory and development framework for:
b)
A total construction delivery
capability to achieve
c)
Sustainable growth and empowerment
of historically disadvantaged
d)
Global standards of performance
and value to clients and society
2.1.1 2008/09
Budget of the CIDB
In the 2007/08 financial year the CIDB spent
as follows:
a)
In its total revenue of R 67
890.00 received from registers, transfer payments and balance carried forward
from 2006/07; it had a total expenditure or R 67 890 which was spent on
Personnel, Administration, Capital and Operations;
b)
In the 2008/09 financial year, the
CIDB has a planned budget of R101 598.00;
c)
The R101 598.00 budget will be
divided amongst the organisation programmes
which are: Corporate Services, Growth & Contractor development, Industry
performance, procurement delivery, registrars and the Office of the CEO.
2.2
Council for the
Built Environment (CBE)
a)
The Vision of the
CBE is to provide sustainable built environment professions, serving public and
national interest;
b)
The CBE mission is
through leadership of the built environment professions, facilitate integrated
development, whilst promoting efficiency and effectiveness;
c)
The Values of the
CBE are Integrity, Transparency, Excellence and Innovation.
2.2.1 Strategic
Objectives of the CBE for the 2008/09 Financial Year
a) Improve stakeholder relations and create partnerships to improve service
delivery;
b) Intervene in improving the performance of the skills delivery pipeline;
c) Transform and consolidate the regulatory, institutional and structural
framework regulating the functioning of the CBE and the professional councils;
d) Ensure an effective and efficient public protection regime;
e) Ensure the alignment of the activities of the CBE and the CBE
professional councils with national imperative and initiatives.
3.
Independent Development Trust (IDT)
a)
The principal purpose of the IDT
is to operate as an anti-poverty and redistributive
agency, which invests in finding innovative new ways of meeting the core
challenges of poverty and inequality and expends its capital base in the
pursuit of workable strategies and programmes that
can be shared and replicated;
b)
The Vision of the IDT is to be the
leading knowledge-based development agency;
c)
The Mission of the IDT is to see
to it, together with strategic partners, to enable poor communities to access
resources, recognise and unlock their own potential
and continuously improve their quality of life;
d)
What still remains relevant to the
IDT’s mandate is its ability to have demonstrated the
capacity to ‘reinvent’ itself in response to the environment.
1)
In 1998 the IDT amended its Deed
of Trust
2)
In October 2000 it supported
government in co-ordinating management of the
(Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programmes)
ISRDP
3)
Supported the (Accelerated and
Shared Growth Initiative for
3.1 Strategic
Objectives of the IDT for the 2008/09 Financial Year
a)
To provide social infrastructure,
this enhances access to basic services to poor and marginalised
communities. A primary focus will be women and their dependants as primary
beneficiaries;
b)
To create opportunities which
promote sustainable livelihoods in poor and marginalised
communities. A primary focus will be on opportunities
for women and women’s groups;
c)
To enhance the institutional capacity
of community-based structures and government, in poor and marginalised
communities. A primary focus will be on local government and organisations with women as their primary participants;
d)
To achieve service delivery
excellence and the efficient and effective utilisation
of resources.
4. Agrément South Africa
a)
The Agrément
South Africa operates under a ministerial delegation of authority from the
Minister of Public Works;
b)
It provides assurance by carrying
out testing, evaluation, confirmation and certification of fitness for purpose
of non-standard construction products and systems;
c)
The Vision of the Agrément South Africa is to be a world class technical
Assessment Agency;
d)
The mission is to promote the
government’s objectives of economic development, good governance and raising
living standards and prosperity by undertaking technical assessment and
certification of non-standard construction products in
4.1 Budget
allocated to the Agrément South
a) Agrément South Africa has
budget for R 8 920 000.00 in the 2008/09 financial year which will be spent on
manpower or human capital costs, technical assessments, operational, quality
monitoring, marketing equipment & research into technical criteria and CSIR
infrastructure costs including rental, depreciation and management services
5. Recommendations
a)
The Committee recommends that in
future all the entities strategic objectives be aligned with their budget
requests;
b)
The entities need to ensure that
they submit their business plans to Parliament at least two weeks before their
budget hearings;
6. Conclusion
The Department of Public Works, Construction
Industry Development Board (CIDB) Agrément South
Report to be considered.