The Department of Public Works says it has reached important milestones in its annual performance targets in the first quarter of the 2014/15 financial year.
Delivering its quarter 1 performance report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works, the department said it has so far attained 60% of its 81 listed targets.Delivering its quarter 1 performance report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works, the department said it has so far attained 60% of its 81 listed targets.
The department listed the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) as one of its notable achievements. EPWP created over 420 000 work opportunities from a planned target of 262 000 work opportunities.
Seventy-six percent of these job opportunities (about 318 089) were in rural municipalities, where the programme is intended to have maximum impact.
Similarly, about 22 514 properties - against a target of 14 214 - in the Departmental Immoveable Asset Register were populated with the relevant information fields, which make them compliant with the acceptable accounting systems. This significantly reduces the likelihood of adverse audit findings.
The department had set itself an annual target of 56 871 properties, which were to be made compliant with the acceptable accounting systems.
The department said the physical verification of assets was improving. The National Asset Register reflects that 95% of all immovable assets of the state have been verified.
“This is a first in the history of South Africa and a possible game changer in the battle by the department to improve its accountability,” said the department.
The department said it has achieved over 70% of its targets in the Supply Chain Management environment.
Processes, including the improvement of IT systems, are already underway to respond to some challenges like bottlenecks in the SCM processes that have resulted in not achieving some of the targets.
Improving delivery on construction projects
Members of Parliament were concerned with the low expenditure pattern on departmental construction projects, which is seen as having a negative impact on service delivery and job creation.
The department pointed to the long timelines in site clearance processes by municipalities before construction starts and the poor performance by contractors once the job has started.
“Processes of ensuring closer monitoring of project implementation have been put in place and contractors are being put on terms to enforce performance, including, where appropriate, putting them on mora (legal delay) and executing the department’s rights of charging them with penalties,” the department said.
The department is on path to fulfil its turnaround strategy to make poor performance and negative audit outcomes a thing of the past. - SAnews.gov.za
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