R1 BILLION ALLOCATION FOR POVERTY RELIEF, JOBS SUMMIT

Issued by: Ministry of Finance

THE ALLOCATIONS OF THE R1 BILLION FOR POVERTY RELIEF, INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS SUMMIT PROJECTS: 1999/00

OVERVIEW

The 1999/00 - 2001/02 Medium Term Expenditure Framework that was tabled before Parliament in February sets aside increasing funds for poverty relief, infrastructure investment and Jobs Summit programmes and projects. The amounts allocated increase from R1 billion in 1999/00 to R1,2 billion in 2000/01 and R1,5 billion in 2001/02.

Following the approval of the 1999 Budget by Parliament, and the Presidential Jobs Summit in October last year, an intensive and thorough process of determining the allocation of the funds to the relevant Government departments began in March of this year.

The projects and programmes for which funds have been allocated fall under two broad categories:

Existing poverty relief and infrastructure investment projects

Further allocations are made to several projects that received funding from the R800 million that was set aside in the 1998 budget. These include:

• The Working for Water Programme of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
• The Landcare programme of the Department of Agriculture
  
• The labour intensive Community Based Public Works Programmes of the Department of Public Works
  
• Projects implemented by non-governmental organisations and supported by the Departments of Health and Welfare, targeted at the most vulnerable groups such as women who are the sole breadwinners and children.

New Jobs Summit projects

In addition, allocations are made to specific projects identified through the Jobs Summit process. Government is committed to funding these because of their potential to create lasting jobs whilst also contributing to improving the quality of life of poor communities.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF PROJECTS FOR FUNDING

The process followed in deciding allocations for each of the two sets of programmes and projects differs, albeit slightly:

For existing projects the key determining factor was the effectiveness of the programme in terms of creating jobs, providing basic infrastructure and alleviating poverty. In this regard, Departments were requested to submit detailed and comprehensive progress reports on their programmes. The funding was largely determined on the strength of the performance of each programme as demonstrated in the progress report.

Regarding the Jobs Summit projects, emphasis was placed on the potential of the programmes and projects to:

• create jobs
  
• impact on poverty and
  
• address broader socio-economic and policy issues. An example of this would be the "new" and measured approach to rental housing stock adopted by the Department of Housing.

Priority was given to integrated programmes that are seeking to create synergies and take advantage of possible linkages with other Government-supported initiatives. Examples of such programmes are access roads and local tourism infrastructure projects that not only have linkages among themselves, but are also linked to broader Spatial Development Initiatives.

The allocations are set out below.

Department of Agriculture R 20 m
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism R 70 m
Dept of Health R 23 m
Dept of Housing R 75 m
Dept of Labour R 50 m
Dept of Local Gov. and Provincial Affairs R 45 m
Dept of Public Works R377 m
Dept of Transport R100 m
Dept of Water Affairs R200 m
Dept of Welfare R 40 m

Issued by the Government Communication and Information System

Pretoria

10 August 1999