The South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) and Consulting Engineers South Africa (Cesa) have expressed concern about the underspending of municipal budgets.

Municipalities have underspent R12.4-billion, or 29.3%, of their capital budgets in the 12 months to the end of June last year.

“It has had a negative impact on communities struggling with service delivery issues and the construction industry that relies heavily on municipal expenditure to survive,” Cesa CEO Graham Pirie said in a statement on Tuesday.

He added that existing infrastructure was also not being adequately maintained and as an example, referred in particular to local road networks.

Safcec executive director Neville Gurry said a significant contributing factor to the underspend was the lack of capacity and expertise in government departments to implement new projects and maintain existing infrastructure.

Both associations, through their Business Unity South Africa affiliation, were interacting with the stakeholders in government’s New Growth Path initiative aimed at creating jobs through infrastructure spend. New delivery models were being considered that would assist with the implementation of numerous projects.

Cesa and Safcec stated that they hoped that the establishment of the Presidential Infrastructure Commission chaired by President Jacob Zuma would make a meaningful contribution and called upon the President to involve the private sector in the process going forward.

Gurry noted that it was key to activate the strategies as soon as possible to create jobs and mitigate the radical downsizing of the local built environment industry.