Mpumalanga Public works aims to create jobs

black economic empowerment, job creation and the enabling of women and the youth would be of extreme importance for the public works, road and transport department in the coming year, mec mr steve mabona said.

he warned however that, although the department would go to great lengths to assist emerging entrepreneurs and contractors, the department would cancel contracts in the case of under- or non-performing contractors.

delivering his policy and budget speech at the mpumalanga provincial legislature, mabona said his department’s chief directorate for construction and planning was currently working on simplifying tender documents to make them more user-friendly for emerging contractors.

"we have been following a firm policy to support emerging suppliers, consultants and contractors through the department’s roads, buildings, maintenance and service contracts.

according to mabona, a major challenge to black economic empowerment was the lack of funding that many of the emerging con-tractors faced. this often resulted in lengthy delays before service delivery could take place. two recent examples, mabona said, were the delays in the building of the piet retief hospital and the moses river bridge.

"for this department, it is not just a question of cancelling contracts when a contractor fails to deliver. because of our commitment to black economic empowerment we will continue to enter into negotiations with both emerging contractors and financial institutions to provide the financial support our contractors need," he said.

it was only as a last resort that contracts would be cancelled. but, he said, service delivery had been hampered in many ways by under- or non-performing contractors during the past year.

"this department therefore had to take a policy decision to cancel such contracts should it not be in the interest of government or the citizens of mpumalanga to continue with them.

"in this regard, the contract for a r5,2 million bridge between allemansdrif and senotlelo was cancelled," mabona said.

even if this had been an unpopular decision, the department would continue to take a tough stance with such contractors in the 2003/2004 financial year.

"the mpumalanga province cannot continue to deal with people who are not dedicated to service delivery," he said.

despite some criticism that not enough was being done to assist women and youth on the road to empowerment, his department had fared better in some areas than others. the public works department was close to the 30% target for women in the public service and had transformed middle and senior management structures by appointing more women in management positions.

where projects were concerned, he said, his department had appointed three women as main contractors with another 127 women and 278 youths employed on these projects.

"the department also appointed five female contractors on 20 infrastructure projects in the 2002/2003 financial year.

"our intention in the coming financial year, is to expand these numbers while taking into account the reality that there are still very few female-dominated contractors in the market who have experience of engineering and construction," mabona said.