We are on top of our game, says Mamabolo

MEC for DID Jacob Mamabolo.

Nie Cele

Gauteng  MEC for Infrastructure Development (DID) Jacob Mamabolo, believes that his team’s collective has managed to turn the department’s capability to effectiveness, efficiency and service delivery driven.

This was revealed at a media breakfast recently held at Emoyeni conference centre in Parktown.

Mamabolowarned that disruption of projects is a big worry factor for his department.

“We cannot deal with that variable.”

He also blastedshoddy contractors whom he accused of sometimes having a tendency of being negligent, careless and render poor performance.

“We are not playing ping pong tennis. We are in the business of building and delivering infrastructure,” Mamabolo pointed.

The MEC also disclosed and stressed that his department has reached a point where it has stabilized its operations.

“We have cracked the code for efficient infrastructure delivery and found the right formula. We are beginning to be a Centre of excellence,” he said.

He also looked back on the past 18 months of his current term of office and said the key focus of his tenure has been to transform the Department into an efficient project delivery machine and to move away from a history of ‘crisis management and chasing shadows’.

Mamaboloalso argued that the ongoing migration of people into this Provincemakes it absolutely imperative forhis department to maximize the impact of infrastructure projects.

“ I believe we have now cracked the code of how to do this.” He said.

Furthermore hedivulged the new Department’s Project Readiness Matrix, which he said was a proprietary tool developed in-house to “monitor the morethan 160 steps that a project takes from conception to completion.

“It is a tool of transparency, compliance and accountability because it ensures no project goes into development until all the necessary steps have been taken to ensure the project is actually ready for implementation  and then tracking every step in the process to completion thereafter.

“We currently have 152 projects, valued at R2.4 billion across the various project stages. Having applied the Project Readiness Matrix to these projects, these projects are now primed for execution without delay.

“There is no excuse for us not to deliver these projects on on time, within budget and to the right quality. As government we have a responsibility to be accountable and answerable. We must ensure that every cent entrusted to us is spent in a responsible and ethical way. We must be able to account for every cent, and with this tool we are able to do that,”Mamablo argued.

The MEC also contended that, using the Project Readiness Matrix in conjunction with the Lutsinga Infrastructure House, the Department’s state-of-the-art electronic monitoring nerve centre, the department is able to relentlessly drive efficiency by ensuring oversight and monitoring of every aspect of project delivery.

Speaking at the same event, BethuelNetshiswinzhe, Head of Department said the past 18 months had been a ‘remarkable period’ for the Department.

“There have been very significant changes in the way we operate and how we approach our mandate. We now speak of the ‘new DID’, he said.

“Those of us who have been in this Department for a long time, can attest to the changes we have seen. We have a clearly defined business model, a clearly defined delivery model, robust project management and clarity of purpose,”Netshiswinzhe pointed.