Premier’s budget cut, promises continued service delivery
The Office of the Premier has been allocated R658.6-million of the R109-billion provincial budget
DESPITE a budget cut of nearly R100-million rand for the Office of the Premier this financial year, service delivery will remain unaffected.
During the tabling of the proposed budget at the provincial legislature last week, KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu said the impact of cost containment created new opportunities to ‘reconsider our partnerships and reprioritise our projects with limited resources’.
The Office of the Premier has been allocated R658.6-million of the R109-billion provincial budget for the 2016/2017 financial year, compared to R753.4million for 2015/2016.
As a result of the cut, many projects and initiatives will also have less money to spend.
Among those is the Royal Household, who will this year receive R9-million less.
High order challenges
During his speech Mchunu highlighted several projects that will receive priority attention.
Ongoing drought, poverty alleviation and unemployment was among these.
‘We welcome the official opening of Fairbreeze Mine in Mtunizini. This is an investment of R2.56-billion with prospects for expansion and the creation of 400 jobs.’
He also touched on the implementation of decisions reached with Transnet to expand Richards Bay and Durban Harbour.
‘The overall objective is to maximise delivery on the needs of the people,’ he said.
He then broke down the budget by in programmes and sub-programmes, giving a detailed explanation for each.
The lion’s share will be allocated to administration (R92.5-million), Strategic Human Resources (R89.5-million) and Information Communication Technology (R63.7-million).
While he spoke about the ongoing drought, he did not mention if any funds would be allocated from the Premier’s budget towards drought relief.
‘The devastating nature of the drought we are experiencing requires ongoing monitoring and intervention, to which we are committed.
‘Resources from all possible sources are needed to deal with short and medium term intervention, and although recent light rain has made a difference to animal farmers and crops, some nature reserves, specific rural areas and dams remain at risk.’
