Nearly R1 billion of unspent capital is sitting idle in city council coffers while pressing socio-economic challenges mount by the week.
With just two months to go before the council's new budget comes on stream, the city has managed to spend less than half - just 48 percent - of the R1,9-billion it had planned to use on much-needed capital projects.
The DA-led multiparty forum gave notice on Monday that it expected all council departments to move quicker and earlier in the year in putting projects out to tender and getting contracts signed and launched.
Against a backdrop of a transport crisis, a need for more housing and services, and greater job-creation and poverty relief efforts, it emerged at Monday's Mayco meeting that by the end of April, city departments had spent just R928,7-million, leaving R992,1m-unspent.
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| 'The area that requires by far the greatest attention - the ability to spend money' |
Excluding the R408,6-million spending shortfall on the N2 Gateway project, the major shortfalls occur in roads and stormwater (R106-million), transport (R93.3-million), housing (R81-million), electricity (R78.3-million), water (R69.5-million) and social development (R44-million).
The spending deficiencies were sharply criticised by Mayco finance member Ian Neilson.
He said of the capital budget report: "This highlights once again the dismal expenditure on the capital side. Only 48 percent of what we should have spent has been spent by the end of April.
"This is the area that requires by far the greatest attention - the ability to spend money."
"The fact that the capital budget is not being spent says that although there is enormous need, we cannot go to the public and ask for above-inflation increases if we are not spending the money we have now.
"This requires a concerted effort from line departments. Until we have spent the money, we cannot ask for more from the public."
Neilson said the virtue of having a three-year capital budget was precisely that one could spend money, "but I do not get the sense that people know we have a three-year capital budget".
"We should be using whatever resources we have," he said. "The message should be, get the tenders out so we can start spending money from July 1, not December or January next year.
"This must be punted throughout the organisation. I hope we start seeing dramatic improvements so we can see spending at the beginning and not the end of the financial year."
michaelm@incape.co.za
Council reports, pages 2 & 4
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Argus on May 23, 2006
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