By Matome Sebelebele
SERVICE delivery at local government level today received a shot in the arm with the launch of a centralised multi-billion Rand funding system aimed at ensuring efficacy in the delivery of services at grassroots level.
Provincial and Local Government Minister Sidney Mufamadi unveiled the much awaited Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) amid fanfare at an event in Daveyton, on the East Rand. Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau and Transport Minister Jeff Radebe also attended the event.
The R15.6 billion Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) will replace all existing municipal capital grants.
These include the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme; Local Economic Development Fund; Water Services Project; Municipal Sports and Recreation Programme; the National Electrification Programme to local government and the Urban Transport Fund.
The grant is expected to also help government realise its goal of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014 and will be modeled along the labour intensive Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
"There is no reason why many of our people cannot get jobs...why we should not deploy people from here," said Mufamadi. Radebe said the MIG reflected government's will to a coordinated service delivery.
"Infrastructure delivery is at the heart of our collective efforts to eradicate the scourge of poverty and inequality as well as facilitate access by poor households to social services and economic opportunities," he said.
He added that the MIG was the government's direct response to its own experiences gained over the past decade of freedom on ways to increase service delivery. "The lesson is that effective coordination will be the critical successful factor in the delivery of infrastructure.
"The reality is that the delivery of housing and other municipal infrastructure in the past has been extremely fragmented resulting in increased burden on the poor households and government," said Radebe, affirming that such a situation would be turned around with the phasing in of this grant.
In ensuring that work begins immediately, Mufamadi handed over R189-million to Ekurhuleni Mayor Duma Nkosi, who in turn gave the Minister the Metro's Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).
The multi-faceted plans outline what authorities say will also improve service delivery.
Source: BuaNews
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