POLOKWANE – The MEC for Treasury last Tuesday informed journalists at a press conference following the tabling of the 2018/19 provincial budget that the planned provincial theatre and move of the Legislature to Polokwane is not currently in the pipeline.
You might also want to read: City’s arts theatre, a first for the province
The planned theatre, in conjunction with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture has been put on the back burner as the land allocated to it by the Polokwane Municipality did not meet the requirements for the planned construction.
The process of acquiring land and re-planning will have to start again.
The relocation of the Legislature, registered as a public private partnership, is still on the agenda, but it is a “process”. National Treasury stated the process will have to start again. Tooley said the planned relocation started in 1994 with each consecutive premier wanting to relocate, adding the relocation is not currently a priority.
“We still have a good structure we are using,” he said. “We will have to find out if the allocated land is still available for the Legislature to be built on.” Tooley said they hope to discuss the progress with the process and give feedback to the Speaker of the Legislature in about two weeks’ time.
No money have been put aside for disaster funding, due to budgetary restrictions, according to Tooley. Should any disasters occur, it would be funded from provincial reserves or money could be obtained from the national government, he explained.
Regarding the planned Special Economic Zones, Tooley said the availability of water was the biggest drawback currently to start development, and that discussions with Zimbabwe and to get water licences are taking place. He said there were huge coal reserves near Nzhelele, but the dam’s water is allocated for farming. “This will have to change,” he said. “Mining is going to happen.”
