De Lille promises big changes

Addressing delegates at the 2020 CESA Infrastructure Indaba, Minister Patricia de Lille said that consulting engineers have a critical role to play in partnering with government to speed up the implementation of infrastructure delivery.

Restructuring the department

De Lille believes that the addition of infrastructure in the Department of Public Works shows government’s seriousness about giving infrastructure the attention it deserves.

To help deliver infrastructure, the minister says she has recalibrated that mandate of the department to align it with the seven key priorities of government, the Mediumterm Strategic Framework and the National Development Plan.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also gazetted that the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Committee (PICC) as well as the Infrastructure Delivery Management System will form part of the newly restructured department.

Improved planning

According to De Lille, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has identified many problems pertaining to infrastructure roll-out and management, including poor spatial alignment and coordination across the three spheres of government and between the various sectors within infrastructure. To address this, the DPWI has developed a Draft National Spatial Development Framework, which is currently available for public comment.

There are currently stalled infrastructure projects across the country as a result of poor pre-project planning that serves to de-risk projects. A major focus is building capacity for pre-project planning within the DPWI, which will soon be advertising for positions.

She also points to the disjointed governance of the infrastructure life cycle. To this end, the DPWI will be looking at new methodologies, including the build, operate and transfer model. Planning methodologies will be changed, and budgets will increasingly focus on maintenance. “The maintenance backlog in municipalities is frightening,” she said.

An MoU with the British government will provide funding for project pre-preparation and the DPWI has prepared several bankable projects, having relooked the criteria for solid bankable projects.

To date, National Treasury has been the entry point for major infrastructure projects, which has caused an imbalance, resulting in financial criteria taking precedence over the sustainability and viability of infrastructure, explained De Lille. Going forward, there will be a single entry point for all infrastructure projects so that the project pipeline can be tracked.

“We will now define the infrastructure pipeline, including the hierarchy of projects and programmes, and also the financial mechanisms,” said De Lille. “We will have oversight over the various infrastructure investment mechanisms, including the Infrastructure Fund and budget facility for infrastructure. We will also have oversight over implementing agencies that are being used by government.”

Improved governance

In line with her department’s new role of overseeing contracted implementing agencies, De Lille will ensure clear contractual deliverables and associated penalties. According to the minister, the Auditor General advised that she investigate the contractual obligations between government and implementing agencies. She said these often do not completely adhere to the Public Management Finance Amendment Act (No. 29 of 1999), allowing the opportunity for corruption.

De Lille said there has also been resistance to technology in government because paper-based systems offer more space for corruption. Addressing this, she will launch the first national digital immovable asset register in June 2020.

The need to build a capable and ethical state was highlighted by De Lille, who lamented how deep state capture runs. “In our fifth administration, we did not meet a single target that we had set for the term... but in terms of our spend, we claim to have spent 93% of our budget.... It doesn’t correlate. I suspect what is included in that 93% is also the corruption and the money that was stolen. It never added towards the actual performance,” she said.

To address this in her department, project pre-preparation must be completed before any project can be put on the budget. “Corruption steals from the poor. Corruption takes away from the people who are most vulnerable in society,” she stressed.

The minister believes her department has finally turned the tide on 30-day payments, insisting that all payments are paid on time within the prescribed law. This was achieved by introducing contract and consequence management in her department and,

so far, 54 officials have been charged in terms of consequence management. Within a month and a half, her department injected R1.5 billion into the economy by paying outstanding invoices.

“We must be held accountable,” she said. To this end, De Lille announced that she would publish her performance agreement with the president on her department’s website to promote transparency and accountability. She believes that only through transparency and accountability will we see an improvement in service delivery.

Regulation and legislation changes

As the minister of the DPWI, De Lille is responsible for the implementation of the Infrastructure Development Act (No. 23 of 2014) – an important piece of legislation that she stated a lot of infrastructure development in South Africa has ignored.

Despite the Act coming into effect in 2014, no regulations have been developed to give effect to it. Section 21 of the Act instructs the minister, in consultation with the PICC, to develop these regulations. De Lille has, therefore, asked the president to convene the PICC before the end of May, where she will present the proposed new regulations to give effect to the Act.

“We can now design the regulations that begin to make the delivery of infrastructure more efficient and effective, and to also speed up infrastructure delivery,” said De Lille.

The regulations will, among others, enable the workings of the Act and the criteria that must be applied in the implementation of strategic infrastructure projects. These criteria include skills development, the green economy, employment creation and rural development. The regulations will also elaborate on various mechanisms and legislative tools that can be used in each of the stages of the infrastructure life cycle.

The DPWI is also in the process of reviewing the CIDB Act (No. 38 of 2000), especially as it relates to grading. De Lille has undertaken to engage with the CIDB on the register of service providers and provide feedback.

Furthermore, the department has identified many old pieces of legislation that must be repealed. De Lille hopes to repeal all pieces of legislation in conflict with our new Constitution during the current parliamentary year. She is also

spearheading the development of an Infrastructure Public Works Bill that will bring together infrastructure and public works legislation.

The way forward

A key factor for De Lille is addressing the trust deficit between the public and private sector. She believes that South Africa is currently on the edge of a cliff, and it is up to both sectors to bring it back. “If we sink, we all sink together,” she stressed. “We have to work together as partners. I can tell you that government cannot do it alone.” De Lille also noted the need for increased investment in infrastructure, stating that government needs to create the conditions conducive for the private sector to create jobs and crowd in funding.

Therefore, government has made R100 billion available in the Infrastructure Investment Fund, which includes private funding. De Lille has been tasked with finalising and having oversight over the fund, which is kept by the Development Bank of Southern Africa. That being said, De Lille does not believe that funding alone is the problem, but rather underspending on infrastructure.

A recent CESA survey revealed that one in five engineers in all consulting firms is not gainfully employed and could be used to help recapacitate the state. De Lille called for CESA to present her with a list of available engineers before the end of May so that they can become involved in recapacitating the department and effectively delivering infrastructure.

“I challenge you to challenge me,” said De Lille. “When we are more up front with each other, we can save this beautiful country of ours.”