RDP PROJECTS PROGRESS

Issued by: Office of The President

For immy line departments for programmes approved by the core Cabinet committee. By June this year, it is estimated there will be contractors on more than 43 000 sites of RDP programmes around the country.

A sample of the detail of the progress of the programmes is listed below:

1. The Primary School Nutrition Programme has created approximately 9 000 employment opportunities countrywide. It has also resulted in the formation of 8 000 local project committees. Some 5,4 million children in 15 000 schools in nine provinces are fed by the programme.

2. There are 120 contractors on site in communities around the country as part of the Extension and Upgrading of Municipal Infrastructure Programme. By the end of February, this number is expected to have risen to 200. In the Western Cape there are 115 approved projects; 54 in the Eastern Cape; 26 each in the North West and Northern Cape; 14 and the Free State; 13 in KwaZulu Natal; 33 in Gauteng; 36 in Mpumalanga and 85 in the Northern province.

3. Each of the country's nine provinces are currently operating a number of RDP-funded programmes. In the 1995/96 financial year, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal operated the highest number of programmes each while Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu Natal and the Northern Province had the most money allocated to them in the 1995/96 financial year.

4. The breakdown for RDP money allocated to provinces for the 1995/96 financial year (excluding rollovers from the 1994/95 year) is as follows:

• Mpumalanga - 19 programmes costing R353,16 million;
• KwaZulu Natal - 19 programmes costing R960,44 million;
• Gauteng - 16 programmes costing R1,056 billion;
• Northern Province - 16 costing R931 million;
• North West Province - 17 costing R448,9 million;
• Free State - 16 costing R354,177 million;
• Western Cape - 15 costing R637,1 million;
• Northern Cape - 16 costing R228,25 million;
• Eastern Cape - 17 costing R892,36 million.

5. The Community Based Public Works Programme aims to bring together three major aspects of reconstruction and development: the urgent need for jobs, skills and job-related raining as well as tackling the backlog in the provision of infrastructure. It aims to maximise job creation in all construction projects to be carried out by government and is linked to all RDP projects in which job creation is a major criterion. Projects being implemented range from the provision of new classrooms for schools, pre-schools and creches to the construction of windmills, road kerbs and community halls as well as the provision of water and basic sanitation. Phase one (R250 million) programme is being administered by Provincial authorities and Phase Two (R100 million) is being administered by NGO's. Todate, 487 projects costing R56,3 million have been approved. Of these, 476 have already received funding and 72 projects were completed at the end of December last year. A total of 28 220 jobs will be created in this phase of the programme. The breakdown by province is as follows:

• Eastern Cape - 92 approved projects; 14 completed:
• Free State - 22 approved projects; none completed:
• KwaZulu Natal - 120 approved projects; 43 completed:
• Mpumalanga - 48 approved projects; 11 completed:
• North West - 77 approved projects; one completed:
• Northern Province - 88 approved projects; none completed:
• Northern Cape - 16 approved projects; four completed:
• Western Cape - 24 approved projects; none completed
• Gauteng - 2 approved projects.

6. The Clinic Building Programme has 173 new clinics under construction countrywide and these will be completed by April this year. The upgrading of existing clinics and nurses residences are included in this R90 million programme. The aim of this programme is to provide primary health services to people whose nearest clinic used to be more than five kilometers away and therefore considered to be inaccessible.

7. The breakdown by province is as follows:

• KwaZulu Natal - 19 new clinics; 14 residences upgraded, 3 clinics upgraded
• Eastern Cape - 26 new clinics;
• Northern Province - 25 new clinics;
• North West Province - 35 new clinics; two nurse residences upgraded;
• Free State - four new clinics; three clinics upgraded;
• Northern Cape - five new clinics; three clinics upgraded;
• Mpumalanga - eight new clinics;
• Gaugeng - 18 new clinics; seven clinics upgraded;
• Western Cape - 12 anew clinics; 13 clinics upgraded.

8. The 14 Special Integrated Presidential Projects on Urban Renewal have been allocated R1,6 billion from RDP fund to be paid out over a five-year period. The programmes aims to comprehensively repaid the social and physical fabric by addressing inequities and economically uplifting towns and cities aegrated development in the RDP.

The 14 projects are

• Katorus (Gauteng) - tender for the repair of 294 houses; a flying squad and 19 satellite police stations have been established; and 1 500 plots of land have been identified for development;
• Serviced Land Project (Western Cape)
• Cato Manor (KwaZulu Natal)
• Natal Disaster Fund (KwaZulu Natal)
• Bruntville (KwaZulu Natal)
• Thabong (Free State)
• Botshabelo (Free State)
• Ibhayi (Eastern Cape): water and sanitation have been provided to 1 820 stands already. In terms of new business plans recently approved by the Programme Steering Committee, the Swiss government will donate R11,9 million to upgrade 777 families by providing them with water and sanitation facilities as well as upgrading roads and stormwater systems.
• Duncan Village (Eastern Cape); tenders worth more than R30 million have just been awarded and this figure will double by the end of February; the majority of these tenders are for infrastructure upgrading;
• Molopo River Basin (North West): the business plan was approved in January;
• Mahwelereng (Northern Province)
• Mosoyi (Mpumalanga): this is a new SIP and a business plan is still being drawn up;
• Siyabuswa (Mpumalanga): this is a new SIP and a business plan is still being drawn up;
• Galeshewe (Northern Cape): this SIP was launched in October last year and work is progressing well.

9. An estimated 12 million households in South Africa do not have a safe supply of drinking water. The RDP intends to provide drinkable water to every person in South Africa - at least 20 litres per person per day within 200 metres of where they live - within five years. Twelve communities comprising around one million people are involved in phase one of this project.

10. Tenders for the supply of bulk water to more than one million people living in Arabie and Katuma/Senthumule area of the Northern Province are currently being advertise or have already had contractors appointed.

11. Around 48 000 people from 6 600 households in the Shermula community in KwaZulu Natal will benefit from the community water supply project which is almost complete. In all, 12 000 person-days of work for local labourers have been created todate; half of these employees are women.

12. The Water Conservation Programme aims to remove alien vegetation in key water catchment areas. Todate, around 4639 jobs have been created through the programme of which 2379 employees are women.

13. More than two million people benefited from new household connections made by Eskom in 1995 in the national Electrification Programme. A total of 15 134 new farm worker houses were connected to the Grid as part of the Farm Worker Incentive Scheme launched in 1992, bringing the total number to more than 60 000. The most significant connection total for the year was in the pretoria area where more than 119 000 new connections were made.

14. A sum of R1,4 billion has been allocated for the electrification of schools programme which will see 15 600 non-grid schools and 9 600 grid schools electrified over a five-year period. R86 mill9ion was awarded for the electrification of schools in the 1995/96 year and tenders worth R30 million have already been awarded while tenders for the electrification of 1 000 schools at a cost of R56 million will be finalised by the end of February with work beginning in March.

15. A sum of R1,2 billion has been allocated in the 1996/97 financial year for the construction of new schools. The process of identifying locations of these sites is currently underway.

16. The Culture of Learning Programme has had its budget doubled this year to R200 million. It aims to emphasise a return to governance by addressing issues like low attendance, poor examination results and the breakdown of discipline. The programme includes refurbishment of schools and promoting school governance structures.

To date,

• Eastern Cape - work was begun at 90 percent of the 52 schools targeted for renovation and 198 people attended a provincial training workshop held in November last year;
• Free state - work at six of the 47 schools targets for renova- tion has been completed; work is in progress at two schools and work still has to commence at the remaining 29 schools. Initial governance training workshops were attended by 240 people.
• Gauteng - 556 schools of the 1 166 schools targets have had renovation work completed and work on the remaining schools is nearing completion. Approximately 1 500 members of governing bodies, principals, teachers and students attended governance training workshops held in November last year;
• KwaZulu/Natal - 108 schools have been targeted for refurbish- ment. No work has yet begun on either the refurbishment of schools or the governance programme in the 108 schools targeted.
• Mpumalanga - Work at seven of the 24 schools targeted for re- furbishmnent has been completed. Tenders have been awarded for work to begin on the remainder of the schools. Governance training will begin this month (February 1996);
• Northern Cape - work at 18 of the 40 schools targeted for re- furbishment has been completed and about 50 percent of the work is already completed in the remaining schools. A provincial task team is currently planning for governance implementation at 50 schools in the province;
• Northern Province - 750 tents have been purchased for use as classrooms. Some 248 maths and seven science teachers are targeted for training;
• North West - business plan is being reworked;
• Western Cape - work at 78 of 80 schools targeted for refurbish- ment began in 1995; sub project teams in 80 schools are to be trained in school governance.

17. The country's first pilot Youth College - located in Gauteng - will open its doors for the first time in April. Around 7 500 students will have the opportunity of catching up school time lost in their matric year due to political unrest.

18. The Needo Care Centre at the Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth opened at the end of January. It is the first pilot programme in the SA Police Services to be funded by the RDP to be launched. Sites for support centres for victims of sexual and domestic abuse are currently being identified in the remaining eight provinces.

For further information please contact Mandy Jean Woods in Pretoria

ISSUED BY: Mandy Jean Woods Director: Communications Ministry in the Office of the President (Reconstruction and Development Programme) Phone: (012) 341-5569 Fax: (012) 341-9612 Pager: (011) 804-2777 code 71799