Limpopo -
Limpopo’s failure to spend means better roads for the Free State and more library infrastructure for Gauteng.
There is five weeks left to spend the 2013/14 Budget - so the Treasury has chopped R1.3 billion from Limpopo’s budget and handed it to provinces more likely to get it done.
These days, following warnings over the years from the Treasury, unspent money is not only unlikely to be rolled over to the next financial year, it’s also likely to be removed from the under-performing entity in time for someone else to spend it.
The National Treasury issued a notice on Monday stopping the allocations to Limpopo.
This is what Limpopo has lost:
- R637.549 million to spend on fixing provincial roads;
- R644m to spend on housing; and
- R8.967m to spend on libraries.
The funds run through the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant, the Human Settlements Development Grant and the Community Library Services Grant.
The reallocations do the same work but in different provinces.
This is where the money will now go:
- Free State gets R449.74m for provincial roads, R230m for housing and R1.483m for libraries;
- Northern Cape gets R187.719m for provincial roads and R207.9m for housing;
- Gauteng gets R3m for libraries;
- Western Cape gets R1.484m for libraries; R32.1m for housing;
- KwaZulu-Natal receives R57m for housing;
- North West gets R117m for housing; and
Limpopo probably lost the money because the province just can’t get the spending right. Officials probably didn’t read the small print in the Division of Revenue Act, which the Treasury used to cut the funds.
The act gives the Treasury permission to stop an allocation “on the grounds of persistent and material non-compliance” with the financial laws, or if the Treasury expects that the province will “substantially under-spend” on that programme, or if an infrastructure project doesn’t comply with construction industry standards.
The money can also be reallocated if a function is moved to another province or depart-ment.
Limpopo is still under administration by a national team. - The Star