Chairperson, there has been a spate of recent incidents in which public-owned infrastructure, mainly buildings, have been in serious structural deficiencies and health hazards. Now, more than ever, due to slow economic growth and increased migration to urban centres, our public infrastructure must be a vehicle that drives economic and job-generating activities.
Furthermore, as we move towards a more inclusive and integrated population residing in urban centres, our public buildings, property, plant and equipment need to be adequately maintained. The maintenance of public infrastructure must ensure public confidence and agreement that all government buildings can indeed be centres that stimulate economic growth and creation.
The committee report, in turn, does not reflect sufficient efforts to address the problems of poor maintenance of public buildings. On the part of the Property Management and Trading Entity, PMTE, of its 42 targets, almost half of them were not met and one of the main PMTE core functions, amongst others, is maintenance.
We see that there has been ... In 2018-19, it is reported that the PMTE had a surplus of R1,1 billion. An underexpenditure in this regard is unacceptable, as our buildings require serious attention to maintenance and repair. The underexpenditure further impacts on job creation, as this programme must employ more skills required in trades to maintain public infrastructure.
There seems to be a lack of awareness in the executive with regard to the true state of public infrastructure. The IFP calls on you to make known and lead the executive to a common understanding of a list of public buildings and assets that require urgent or upcoming attention.
This, in turn, will aid the collective effort of all departments to ensure a focus on true service delivery to our people. Thank you.
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