The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) today appeared before the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure to report on the department’s Refurbish, Operate and Transfer Programme (ROTP), which aims to address the poor state of government properties in cities and rural towns through private sector investment.
Through this programme, the department aims to encourage the private sector to refurbish state-owned buildings at their own cost and then recover the costs through rentals over time before handing over the refurbished property to the government at a later stage.
“We are not selling the buildings to the private sector; we want to build the capacity of the state [rather] than depending on the private sector entirely,” said the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Mr Sihle Zikalala. The Minister was accompanied by his deputy, Ms Bernice Swart, and the acting Director-General, Dr Alec Moemi, as well as other senior departmental officials.
The committee welcomed this initiative and said the move had the potential to improve service delivery and economic development. “There is no problem with public-private partnership. This can help propel service delivery and bring about economic development,” said the committee Chairperson, Ms Nolitha Ntobongwana. The DPWI could generate revenue through government properties but find the lack of budget an obstacle to its plans, she explained.
The committee’s biggest concern, however, is the department’s lack of an adequate maintenance plan to maintain government buildings. “We are deeply concerned about the state of government buildings all over the country. The reality is that the state of government property is not good at all, in some instances forcing government to rent space from the private sector,” Ms Ntobongwana said.
“We have these challenges because there was no routine maintenance. The issue of the maintenance plan has been our concern for a long time. We have been saying the department tends to react when it comes to maintenance. There is no routine maintenance plan in place and we would like to see a plan in place,” she urged.
The committee will continue to monitor the implementation of the department’s ROTP to ensure all objectives and commitments are met. The committee has also called on the department to play a leading role in working with National Treasury on the development and review of policy on the accommodation of government departments and institutions to achieve uniformity.
Sakhile Mokoena
8 September 2023
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