A total of 223 568 work opportunities were created between April and August this year as part of the expanded public works programme (EPWP), Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge reported on Monday.

The second-quarter figures were released as part of a report back on the progress of government's programme of action since President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address, in which he said that 500 000 work opportunities would be created by the end of 2009.

Doidge again stressed that the programme was "on track in achieving set targets", noting that a marked acceleration had already taken place from the 83 914 work opportunities created in the first quarter. A report back on the 500 000 target would be made in January, after the figures had been verified.

The figures provided a "solid foundation" to create 4,5-million work opportunities for poor and unemployed people by 2014.

The current phase of EPWP included job opportunities in such programmes as: home-based care and crèches, school cleaning and renovation, community gardens, removal of alien vegetation, tree planting and school feeding.

During the second quarter, the bulk of the work opportunities, 149 164, were created on infrastructure projects, followed by 33 973 in the ‘social' category, 29 325 in the environmental sector and 11 106 in the ‘nonState' milieu.

The best performing province was KwaZulu-Natal, with 70 231, followed by Gauteng (44 291), Eastern Cape (36 900), Western Cape (19 271), Limpopo (12 736), Free State (11 420), Mpumalanga (11 355), North West (9 211) and the Northern Cape 8 153.