MORE than R300 million earmarked for road, sanitation and housing projects was surrendered by eThekwini municipality after it failed to spend the money.
This was revealed by Erin Sampson, Senior Manager at Auditor-General of South Africa, who was delivering the auditor’s report before a full council sitting last week.
“Projects that should have been completed within the year with the available revenue were incomplete. This has resulted in the municipality under spending on committed projects and having to surrender funds back to National Treasury,” she said.
The three projects; the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN), Sanitation services and Housing and human settlements, were all funded by several grants made available by the National Treasury.
Samspon explained that these projects were identified by the municipality as key to reaching their objectives of a better city for Durban residents.
With regards to the IRPTN project, which included the Go Durban project, construction could not commence due to delays in the supply chain management process.
With the Sanitation services project, the audit report noted that quality issues were identified during site visits and the relevant information could not be provided to validate the progress.
ALSO READ: Audit committee urges city to act decisively against non-compliant buildings
In Cornubia, the city was supposed to install services like water, roads and electricity amongst others to 2180 residential sites as part of the housing and human settlements project.
The audit found that critical project management and monitoring was not effectively conducted at key milestone dates of the project.
“Hence, the project was not completed within the planned completion date and some defects were observed such as leaking toilets, cracks on ceilings and walls, which were not addressed,” read the audit report.
Nicole Graham, Democratic Alliance eThekwini caucus leader, said these projects had been marred by disruptions from business forums, protests and incapacity to provide contractors.
“I think we have tried numerous times to investigate who is behind all these things that are responsible for our residents losing out on opportunities that these projects provide,” she said.
“It is very concerning becasue the IRPTN is meant to access opportunities and break down the structural barriers that were erected by apartheid history in this country. The money is there, the opportunity to change the situation that many have been deprived of is there, but this city can’t get it right and that is a very, very bad testament about the performance of this municipality.”
Thabani Mthethwa, DA Executive Council member, asked Samspon if the money could be recovered from the National Treasury to which Sampson replied, “No.”
Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.
