The Gauteng Department of Finance identified planning for infrastructure delivery as the most significant challenge that the province faces in the implementation of the goals contained in a R36,1-billion infrastructure investment programme.

Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe on Wednesday stated his intent to ensure that the R17-billion budgeted for new infrastructure and the R4,3-billion set aside for maintenance work over the next three years would be spent properly.

However, infrastructure spend remained a challenge, as project and contract management capacity often lacked. Other challenges included unit cost modelling, reducing the unnecessarily high costs of some projects and skills shortages.

Nkomfe said that the provincial government had enough funds to train people, procure skilled people and follow through on projects, it just needed to plan its spending more efficiently.

He also said the influx of immigrants into the province put strain on infrastructure development. Some 346 000 immigrants entered Gauteng last year, as other provinces’ economies did not grow at the desired pace to create enough jobs – something the Gauteng leadership has no control over.

The provincial government aimed to eradicate informal settlements by 2014. However, there was a significant backlog with thousands of houses still to be built, for which R3,8-billion had been set aside in the provincial budget.

“Planning for immigration is very hard. However, there are some positive spin-offs from the influx of immigrants, such as skills and entrepreneurship,” the MEC asserted.

He added that human settlement was an unending process, because as the provincial government try to close the gap and provide houses for everyone, more people needing homes enter Gauteng.

Meanwhile, Nkomfe said Gauteng’s global competitiveness relied on accessible and reliable social and economic infrastructure.

On the social side, the province planned to build 20 new schools each year for the next three years with a R1,5-billion budget.

“The provincial government has identified the need for 146 new schools, but would need partnerships with the private sector to reach that aim. Private participation in government projects is a crucial factor in meeting the infrastructure demand in Gauteng,” he said.

The MEC also aimed to spend R2,3-billion on primary health care, which he described as “not functioning optimally”, as well as revamping certain hospitals in the province with R800-million of the total.

The provincial government was not yet sure how to tackle the looming water shortage challenge, but had started work on the dated and small sewerage systems in the province.

Regarding economic infrastructure, Nkomfe pointed out that good roads systems were the first factor that attracted global investment. Investing in maintenance, particularly the repair of potholes, would be a focus in 2011.

Nevertheless, he believed that a lot of good work had gone into the province’s roads recently, which assisted the country in surviving the recession.

“Tolling the new roads is an important tool to tackle issues of congestion,” Nkomfe added.

Railway development projects were also ongoing, with the Gautrain scheduled to be complete by September.

Public infrastructure investment formed part of the province’s 2055 vision, the Gauteng Employment Growth and Development Strategy, aimed at transforming the economy to meet the basic needs of its people by 2055.