DID ANNUAL REPORT 2023_24

Annual Report 2023-2024

It is clear that the province and the country is still recovering from the post-pandemic factors as the provincial economy is still 1% below what it was in 2019. The turnaround time for post-pandemic recovery is yet to be determined, as it is also affected by the global economic outlook, for example, the high inflation rate. This has put much strain on the Department to continue delivering on its mandate amid the dire economic landscape in the country.

Internal Environment Analysis

The Department is learning several lessons in the form of immediate, medium-, and long-term interventions to prevent re-occurrences on future projects. The Department is planning to introduce a Centralised Provincial Contractor Performance System to manage the performance of contractors and to apply pressure on poor-performing contractors. There are efforts to increase the visibility of security at construction sites to reduce vandalism and this will need budget allocation as part of the project costs. The Department is also planning to deploy a Rapid Response Team to resolve issues related to community and business forums that have stopped a number of projects. In the effort to deliver public infrastructure projects, there were certain challenges identified by the Department. These include changes in project scope, cashflow problems by the contractors, community unrests and construction mafias, which caused delays in completion of projects. Some of these challenges, at times, have resulted with contractors abandoning the sites. To address these, the Department is making attempts to foster integration in infrastructure planning, coordination, and implementation within the three spheres of government and the establishment of an Integrated Planning Forum in the province to deal with provincial spatial planning, land acquisition and bulk infrastructure. Regarding human resources, the Department is sitting at a 13% vacancy rate. A total of 108 positions were prioritised for the 2023/2024 financial year. To date, 206 are filled due to the high number of vacancies because of natural attrition. The Department is unable to achieve a 10% vacancy rate after the implementation of Circular 49 of 2023 to manage fiscal sustainability, which specifies that all vacant posts linked to active salary scales listed (in the case of DID, only Engineering and Related Professionals are unaffected by this Directive) shall be blocked on PERSAL. 2.2 Service Delivery Improvement Plan The Department has completed a Service Delivery Improvement Plan (SDIP) for 2022–24. The SDIP focused on improving our revenue generation through the leasing out of GPG properties to interested parties. The tables below highlight the service delivery plan and the achievements to date.

Main services and standards

Current/actual standard of service

Desired standard of service

Actual achievement

Main services

Beneficiaries

Increase the number of GPG properties to be leased out to interested parties for revenue generation.

GPG Client Departments, Local Municipalities, Parastatals, Citizens, and Communities

5 properties disposed of

20 properties to be transferred to third parties 6 properties to be released for socio-economic infrastructure development

5

3 properties released for socio-economic

20

infrastructure development

9 facilities provided to user departments (fit for purpose)

8 facilities provided to user departments (lease)

7

35

DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT