The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape has requested a detailed breakdown of consultancy costs incurred by the Northern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works, after revealing a concerningly high vacancy rate of 48%.
The department should be utilising every cent of its budget towards infrastructure development within the province, instead of wasting millions on consulting services.
It was revealed at a recent portfolio committee meeting that the department’s failure to complete infrastructure projects within budget and on time, is largely due to the high number of vacancies in architecture, quantity surveying, project management, works inspection and engineering technology.
The department also admitted that consultation services, to compensate for absent specialised technical skills, are costly.
In the previous financial year, the department appointed 11 consultants for professional surveyance, architectural, civil engineering, structural engineering and quantity surveying services for various projects in the province. The department also spent close to R26 million on business and advisory services consultants in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial year and close to R44 million for infrastructure and planning services for this same period.
In the previous financial year, the department only achieved 42% of its targets for public works infrastructure, while utilizing 100% of its funds. This resulted in zero of the 31 planned maintenance projects being completed within agreed budget in the last financial year.
If the department is serious about decreasing the vacancy rate to 10% by 2029, it needs to avail sufficient budget towards filling vacant funded posts.
The DA will continue to hold the department accountable for overdue projects at inflated costs as we seek answers regarding excessive expenditure on consultants, and monitor the unacceptably high vacancy rates.