It is too soon to say whether the government will meet its target of creating 500 000 work opportunities by the end of the year, Public Works Minister Geoff Doidge said on Monday.

Doidge said weekend media reports which quoted him saying the government would fail to meet its work opportunities target were "factually incorrect" and that figures on the government's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) would only be made public once they had been verified.

"It would be wrong for anyone to claim a conclusive result to the figures before due process has been followed," Doidge said.

"The same applies with this last quarter which will only be reported on in the middle of January 2010, once the quarter is complete and all reporting is verified."

He said the government was committed to "the larger target" of 4,5-million work opportunities to be created by 2014.

"To reach this target we need to ensure that all levels of government are on board."

He said when second quarter figures were released at the beginning of November the department stated that the number had improved and would "still improve" based on "the mobilising of all spheres of government and public bodies in contributing to the EPWP outputs".

A statement from Doidge's ministry said there were 202 municipalities either not reporting or not participating in EPWP programmes.

Doidge spoke of rigourous engagement with these municipalities to encourage participation.