Pandemic affects department’s projects
MANY of the provincial transport and public works department’s projects were negatively impacted by the declaration of the state of disaster in March and the subsequent budget adjustments and will as a result face uncertainty over the next three to five years, according to MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela.
Speaking during the presentation of the department’s annual report for the financial year 2019/20 to the legislature’s standing committee, Madikizela said: “Many projects ground to a halt for at least four months, which of course had an impact on how we were supposed to deliver.”
Madikizela added: “It’s going to be a very difficult next three to five years for this department.
The economic impact we are seeing is likely to continue and while we have an indication about what we will be receiving in the next financial year, for example, there is no certainty.”
Madikizela said that during the year under review, both the department and its entity, the government motor transport (GMT) unit, achieved an unqualified audit, with a no-findings outcome for the eighth consecutive year.
ANC committee member Lulama Mvimbi asked whether the department had any plans to deal with the high number of pedestrians involved in road fatalities, which increased from 608 in the 2018/19 financial year to 687 in the 2019/20 year.
The department’s head of transport management, Kyle Reinecke, said: “We have a holistic plan to reduce fatalities across the whole province using district road safety plans which are an evidence-based approach to target road safety and deaths on our roads in particular geographical areas.”
He added: “This includes aligning law enforcement plans, road safety initiatives and even suggestions for changes in infrastructure, speed limits, etc. If pedestrian deaths are an issue in a particular area, then we develop a plan to target that problem in that particular area.”
While initiatives such as the Red Dot service, introduced after the close of the financial year, did not make it into the report, Madikizela praised the GMT for the role they have played and said: “Particularly during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, they’ve played a critical role.”