Transport and Public Works
With reference to the grants that the Department provides to Western Cape district municipalities:
(a) What is the return on investment for the infrastructure projects that are funded by the aforementioned grants to the municipalities, (b) what support does his Department provide to municipalities for such projects, (c) how is the benefit of such grants assessed and (d) what monitoring and evaluation does his Department provide in this regard?
The Department does not provide any grants to the five Western Cape District Municipalities. The DMs maintain the vast majority of lower order provincial roads, mainly the gravel road network, on an agency basis on behalf of the Province. This arrangement came about when Divisional Councils were abolished and all the road assets of the old DCs were transferred to the Province, with the exception of the human resources. The Department therefore fully funds the agency function, including personnel costs. The District Municipalities themselves are not road authorities in terms of the law.
(a) The work that is done under the agency agreements is no different from the work done by the Department with its own in-house teams or by private sector contracts. The work is identified via the Department’s Road Asset Management Systems, which analyse the overall road network to determine which projects will provide the best return on investment under a constrained budget scenario. Secondly, training and capacity building of in-house staff are promoted to ensure succession planning. Thirdly, a reactive, funded resource is available to immediately react to any emergency or disaster on the road network. Fourthly, all the normal benefits that accrue from a well maintained road network are realised, eg improved access to communities, improved road safety, stimulation of local economies, creation of local job opportunities, lowering of transport costs.
(b) The Department funds the full agreement. It gives engineering, technical and management support, including IT systems, design and operational manuals and quality assurance processes. It provides all the road construction plant and supports the maintenance management thereof. The entire fleet belongs to the Department and not the DMs.
(c) The output forms part of the Department’s Annual Performance Plan, and is assessed in the same way as all the Department’s own deliverables.
(d) The agency function is managed by Memorandum of Agreements with the DMs. The work is monitored through management meetings between the Department and the DMs, who also have their own internal management, control and performance processes as a sphere of government.
