Just News |
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is very concerning that the Gauteng Provincial Government spends R35 million per month to rent offices for its officials despite owning many buildings across the province.
The party reiterated that this is the result of the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development’s inability to implement the planned Kopanong Precinct project in downtown Johannesburg.
The Kopanong Precinct project has been on the books since 2003, but because of a lack of skills and expertise, poor planning, political gymnastics and false starts, the project is still in the planning phase.
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure Development and Property Management Alan Fuchs said many of the buildings identified for this project owned by the government, have deteriorated in the interim and have contributed to the crime and grime in downtown Johannesburg.
“One such building was the Bank of Lisbon building, which had to be demolished because of government negligence and incompetence. Many other buildings owned by the government are not compliant with health and safety regulations, which is yet another obligation of the government in which it has failed”.
Fuchs said both Premier David Makhura and her MEC for Infrastructure Development, Tasneem Motara must accept culpability for the lack of resources, expertise, systems, and processes to manage the substantial property portfolio of the Gauteng government.
