To complete delayed human settlements projects, the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements has advocated for greater planning and coordination between the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.
The decision was taken by the committee during a meeting when members also heard updates on stalled projects, the elimination of asbestos roofs, and the demolition of mud homes from KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga.
The committee is worried that there is a glaring lack of coordination and collaboration between the three domains of government in all the sectors under examination, which is delaying projects, according to committee chair Machwene Semenya.
“The absence of coordination may unintentionally cause initiatives to be delayed, which will undermine the projects’ noble aims.
In order to guarantee that a stronger effect is achieved, we are confident that the adoption and operationalisation of the District Development Model (DDM) would help to synchronise the plans and budgets of sister agencies.
Budget and plan misalignment
According to Semenya, KwaZulu-lack Natal’s of coordination reveals poor planning and a misalignment of plans and budget that prevents the delivery of quality services.
This lack of coordination has contributed to the absence of significant infrastructure and delayed projects.
She said that it is unreasonable for a project like the King Cetshwayo District’s Mzingazi Project, which is expected to have 1,000 apartments, to continue to be stalled for a lack of substantial infrastructure.
“The policy choice to switch from dwellings to human settlements was made in order to guarantee the availability of all services.
The fact that government entities continue to operate in silos and prevent 1000 recipients from receiving high-quality housing is still troubling, according to Semenya.
The committee has urged for a sense of urgency and decisiveness to guarantee that these projects are carried out, while noting efforts to communicate with water service authorities to ensure the supply of bulk infrastructure services.
The committee expressed its worries about the absence of reliable information to estimate the number of asbestos roofs in the province with regard to their removal.
Although the committee supported the start of an assessment programme to determine the extent of the demand, Semenya said that the lack of information is concerning and slows down growth.
The initiative to remove 2 224 mud homes from the province at a cost of R397 705 000 was applauded by the committee.
“With the heightened risks brought on by unpredictable weather patterns brought on by global warming, the necessity for the removal of mud dwellings is even more urgent.
We kindly request that the department carry out the strategies as they are,” Semenya added.
Evaluations of the structural integrity of stalled projects
The Ministerial War Room action on stalled projects led to a backlog decrease from 478 projects to 161, which was appreciated by the committee.
The committee has nonetheless demanded long-term solutions to problems such as contractor non-performance, contract lapses, and terminations.
“These solutions need to shield the State from paying for services when contractors haven’t complied with SLAs.
In order to make sure that the stakeholders have a sufficient strategy in place to unblock such projects, the committee has requested stakeholders to execute structural integrity evaluations on stalled projects older than five years, Semenya added.
The absence of information on homes with asbestos roofs, as in KwaZulu-Natal, disappointed the committee, since it delayed the execution of the elimination programme.
The committee emphasised the need of finishing the evaluation study in order to go forward with the project.
The committee also voiced its dissatisfaction with the Limpopo Provincial Government after learning that, despite a goal of 6055, no serviced sites had been provided by the end of August 2022.
It exhorted the department to find a solution and work quickly to put the programme into effect.
Mpumalanga’s asbestos removal will cost R20 million.
The revelation that the Mpumalanga Provincial Government has put aside a budget of R20 million to carry out the asbestos elimination programme was warmly received by the committee.
However, given the 10,000 roofs on the list previously provided by municipalities, it expressed worry that the allotment is inadequate.
The committee predicted that when nine other towns submit their list, the asbestos backlog would grow since a larger funding is needed.
For the project to be fully funded, the committee recommended making plans for the medium-term economic framework in later years.
The committee expressed concern that Mpumalanga has not assessed the problem in the province or started a programme to measure mud dwellings in the province with regard to the removal of mud houses.
“Despite the acknowledgement that there are many of these buildings in the province since it is a rural one.
The province’s capacity to efficiently plan and budget is impacted by the lack of this data, according to Semenya.
The committee expressed additional concern over the issue of stalled projects provided by the business forum in the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
The committee raised the concern that there is no authorised beneficiary list associated with the halted projects, which puts future initiatives at unavoidable risk.
The committee requested more effort from the project’s stakeholders to achieve project completion.