DURBAN - The Kwazulu-Natal government is expected to spend more than R13billion on infrastructure projects to stimulate growth and create jobs.
However, the government has acknowledged that this was not enough to fund all the big projects that were needed.
Delivering her budget speech yesterday, Finance MEC Belinda Scott said infrastructure was a critical factor in the health and wealth of the country, “enabling private businesses and individuals to produce goods and services more efficiently”.
“With respect to overall economic output, increased infrastructure spending by the government is generally expected to result in higher economic output in the short term by stimulating demand and in the long term by increasing overall productivity.”
The province has set aside R13.6bn to spend in the 2019/20 financial year, R13.6bn in the following financial year and R14.4bn in 2021/22. Scott said this included both the equitable share and conditional grant funded infrastructure.
The major projects that would get the lion’s share of the infrastructure budget fall under the departments of transport, health and education.
Scott said R50million had been allocated for the completion of the Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme Memorial Hospital near KwaMashu.
“In addition, R300m is allocated for the procurement of equipment for this facility,” Scott said. More than R45m would be spent on renovations to the nursery, psychiatric unit, physiotherapy area and the relocation of the psychology department at King Edward VIII Hospital.
In education, Dingukwazi Secondary School would get R90m for upgrades and Pholela Special School in the Harry Gwala region R109m for the construction of a new school.
Scott said injecting more funding into infrastructure projects was one way of addressing the country’s growth prospects.
“Sustainable growth is important, not only to South Africa’s fiscal challenges, but also to the broader socio-economic needs of our people.
“Measures to stimulate the economy have been pronounced by the national government, with attention directed to infrastructural development through the infrastructure fund. Visa regulations will be eased to underpin business travel and stimulate the tourism sector. And public funds will be injected into agriculture and redeveloping township economies.
“(The national) government will accelerate R526bn of on-budget projects by bringing the private sector and development finance institutions on board.
“In several instances, the private sector will design, build and operate critical infrastructure assets. The government will commit R100bn over the next decade.”
Simiso Magagula, the provincial head of the Treasury department, stressed that the provincial government’s inability to fund all of the big projects it wanted to, as a result of fiscal pressure, was a major concern.
“If public investments dry up, private investments tend to dry up.
“We are in a phase of serious economic pressure but, at the same time, expenditure does not dry up.”
Although EFF members did not attend the provincial budget, saying they were “very busy with their campaign”, party MPL Vusi Khoza said they would pay close attention to how the money meant for infrastructure would be spent.
“Officials must be held accountable and the community must be able to touch the infrastructure, not only see it on paper,” he said.
The DA’s Francois Rodgers said the budget was not geared towards building the provincial economy or creating much-needed jobs.
He said that although Scott said the 6% increase in the infrastructure budget would create jobs, the province had lost thousands of jobs after R12.8bn was spent last year.
Lourens de Klerk of the IFP said the province’s growth rate was “so low” that Scott’s hopes would not be realised within two years.