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Mid year report
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Roads and Public Works

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MEDIA RELEASE
 TO ALL MEDIA
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
 14 NOVEMBER 2000

MID-YEAR REPORT

It is now just over six months to the 2000/01 financial year and the department has gone through quite a lot already. The achievements that 
the department has been able to register thus far have been accompanied by a number of challenges and constraints. CHALLENGES AND 
CONSTRAINTS

The department has had to operate its plans within the following constraints:

* The Office of the Head of Department has been operating on a transitional/interim arrangement because of the organisational imperatives 
of ensuring clean government. This has put a lot of strain on the department particularly because new measures had to be put in place mid-
stream in the implementation of our plans;
* Though the department still had to deal with its normal roads construction and rehabilitation work, the floods that swept away most 
bridges and roads in the Province in the period of December 1999  April 2000 added an extra burden to the department that of having to 
deal with emergency reconstruction;
* There were also problems relating to corruption and mismanagement of resources which has to a particular extent had some hindering 
effects with regard delivery of services

* ACHIEVEMENTS

Despite the above-mentioned constraints, the department has been able to register the following achievements:

* In relation to the office of the HOD, the former Head of the Department, Mr. HRL Salie was finally relieved of his duties in the middle 
of September 2000. He was relieved after a lengthy disciplinary hearing that was based on his alleged failure to provide faithful, honest, 
effective and efficient leadership to the department. The finalisation of this matter has finally brought relief as we can now proceed into 
a more stable and permanent arrangement for that office;
* There are also other instances of alleged corruption involving our officials that the department is presently dealing with which include 
that of a senior official in the Central Regions roads section who was found with departmental plant and equipment in his private 
premises, used for private purposes.
* We have recalled some four officials suspended with full pay as from 1996 including a Dennis Maart back to the department so as to 
expedite the charges laid against them that led to those suspensions;
* We have progressed fairly well with the implementation of the departmental budget, both the normal and the ring fenced funds. Our 
regions, that were the major beneficiaries of the ring fenced funding are all operating on a magnitude that has not been the case at least 
in more than three years.
* In the poverty alleviation programme, both the SANRA as well as the NDPW have undertaken no less than 235 projects that have yielded 
about 8 493 jobs for the poor in this province. Out of these jobs created, 46.57% has been awarded to women, 44.16% to youth and 6.78% to 
disabled persons;
* In the emergency reconstruction programme, 21 clustered projects are being undertaken throughout the province. Of the 21 projects, 15 
projects will be finished by December 2000 while the rest of the projects will be finished by January-February 2001
* The above projects are meant to rejuvenate the economies of the respective areas in which they are being undertaken. It is well known 
that the December 1999-April 2000 floods ravaged economic activities in many areas and this is now being attended through the emergency 
reconstruction work. For instance the Cofimvaba bridge on the R61 will be completed by the middle of December 2000 and it is expected that 
the economy of the area will receive a significant boost. In the poverty alleviation programme, the construction of a road in Coffee Bay as 
well as the provision of ablution facilities in the area is also meant to boost the economy of the region through tourism promotion. The 
latter being coupled with the provision of a spacious taxi rank and entrance improvement in Port St. Johns town entrance for tourist 
attraction to the area to improve the outlook of the town. These last two projects and many others will be launched towards the end of 
November as well as in December 2000.

PRESENT PROGRAMMES

The department will still be fully engaged right up to the end of the financial year in the following areas:

* A second tranche of R50m allocation for the emergency reconstruction work to be done on the damaged roads infrastructure in the province 
will also ensure that quite another sizeable number of projects will be undertaken. The department is presently busy with the actual 
assessment of the actual costs for the reconstruction of these projects in a manner identifying these projects. These projects are expected 
to commence in January 2000 and as emergency reconstruction projects it is expected that they should be completed by the end of this 
financial year;
* We are intensifying the implementation of departmental programmes as to ensure that as the financial year comes to an end, there are no 
roll-overs.
* The department has embarked on a rigorous data cleaning exercise that should help establish the actual number of employees that are and 
should be in our establishment.
* In collaboration with other departments, we are constructing a long term plan for the infrastructural needs of the province. This will go 
a long way in focussing our budgets and prioritising our areas of strategic intervention.

Issued : Office of the MEC for Public Works and Roads
 Inquiries: Xolisa Jakuja 0823740042 or 6094447

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