The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the Gautrain Management Agency were two of five transport institutions that cut spending in 2018/19, according to the latest financial statistics of extra-budgetary accounts and funds report.
Sanral recorded a R1.8-billion fall in expenditure as it cut spending on road construction. The report found that the Roads Agency Limpopo and the Mayibuye Transport Corporation also cut spending in the 2018/19 fiscal year. However, Sanral remained the biggest spender among the five transport bodies in 2018/19.
The agency spent almost R20-billion, followed by the Gautrain Management Agency with R2.1-billion. According to the latest consolidated report, the government spent R93-billion on road, rail and other transport related activities in 2017/18. This represents 5% of total government spending that year.
It was more than was spent on defence or housing. Sanral this month said it will undertake construction projects worth R30-billion as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call for “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects to boost the weak economy.
Sanral chief executive Louw Kannemeyer said the agency had advertised 278 maintenance, operations and construction projects worth about R30.2-billion in the current financial year. Roughly 50 strategic infrastructure projects and 12 special projects worth R340-billion, with the potential to create 290 000 jobs, have been gazetted by the minister for public works and infrastructure, and are months away from being implemented.
Master Builders Association (MBA) North president Mohau Mphomela said it was critical that the infrastructure programme is implemented as the construction industry has been under severe strain for years, with several of its leading players either having gone out of business or in business rescue.
“We have lost a lot of muscle, and what was once a world-class construction sector is now a shadow of its former self,” he said. “More delays will further reduce our internal capability to deliver on these ambitious projects, and thus hamstring efforts to rebuild a more inclusive economy.”
Meanwhile, data released by Statistics SA shows that the hard lockdown took its toll on the construction sector. It shows that the value of recorded building plans passed (at current prices) decreased by 43.9% or R23.8-billion during January to June 2020 compared with January to June 2019.
