Gauteng Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe promised on Tuesday that the province would deal with the “twin evils” of incapacity and infrastructure underspending when unveiling a R30.6-billion infrastructure roll-out for the country’s economic powerhouse, as part of a three-year expenditure plan worth R237.7-billion.

In an exclusive interview with Engineering News Online following his Budget address to the legislature, Nkomfe said that the infrastructure budget had been ring-fenced, while structures had been set in place to ensure that delivery took place on time and within the allocations.

He acknowledged that this had been an area of weakness. But weekly infrastructure meetings were now being held involving the provincial Treasury and the key infrastructure delivery departments, such as Education, Health, Infrastructure Development and Roads and Transport.

These gatherings, which were instituted in October, helped to arrest what was poised to be a R1-billion under investment for 2011/12 and would continue into the 2012/13 fiscal period, during which R10-billion had been set aside for infrastructure.

Besides greater coordination, initiatives were also under way to employ greater numbers of technical staff at the departments, as well as to establish relationships with private sectors organizations that could help bolster the province’s planning, project management and contract management capacity.

The Department of Roads and Transport had been allocated R20-million for recruiting qualified and registered engineers and other technical experts, while a further R15-million had been set aside for the Department of Infrastructure for the same reasons.

Departments had during February submitted lists of potential capital projects. However, financial resources would only be directed to those that were ready for implementation from April 1.

The list included social and economic infrastructure developments, but Nkomfe indicated that most of the initial projects related to the development of hospitals, new clinics and schools.

The Department of Economic Development was finalising a new delivery model for the “next wave” of business-supporting infrastructure developments, which would be piloted through the legislature in the not too distant future.

A key economic infrastructure priority would be the development of an ‘airport city’, or ‘aerotropolis’, around the OR Tambo International Airport. “This programme seeks to grow the Gauteng economy through crowding in foreign and local direct investment in this industrial development zone,” Nkomfe explained.

A further R1-billion had been set aside over the coming three years for upgrading the Voortrekker road (R55), Malibongwe road (K154), William Nicol, Leondale road (R103), Adcock road, and the Mamelodi/Hans Strydom intersection.

In addition, R15-million would be invested to support so-called ‘Smart City’ innovations, including the G-Link Broadband programme, for which technology partners were being sought.

Also being prioritised was a new freight logistics hub in Springs, on the East Rand, to add inland port capacity. The initiative would seek to “crowd in” investment by the private sector, as well as the State-owned companies.

Nkomfe said, in many instances, the province would be seeking to provide facilitatory investments, such as roads, to encourage the private sector to make other investments.

He also saw a role for public-private partnerships, including in the upgrading and modernisation of key provincial hospitals such as the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, in Soweto.

But the Democratic Alliance's Mike Moriarty said the Budget "left more questions than answers".

He welcomed proposals on the reduction in unpaid invoices, a curtailment of wastage and a reduction of noncore expenditure measures to fight corruption, as well as proposals on the building of schools and hospitals.

But he described as a "disgrace" the fact that more money was not allocated for building infrastructure, because the "departments do not have the capacity to spend it". People who were not able to plan or to stick to a plan should be fired, Moriarty argued.

"There is money available for these projects and failure to carry out the projects represents lost job opportunities."