(AsgiSA) Annual Report 2008 - South African Government Information
(AsgiSA) Annual Report 2008 - South African Government Information
(AsgiSA) Annual Report 2008 - South African Government Information
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Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for <strong>South</strong> Africa<br />
ANNUAL REPORT<br />
<strong>2008</strong><br />
While progress has been recorded, further improving the competitiveness, efficiency and<br />
capacity of the national logistics system is a key national infrastructure objective. In this<br />
regard, the pricing of infrastructure services has emerged as an important issue to address.<br />
Price regulation, based on the principle of institutionalised independent regulators, is the<br />
policy choice adopted by government. The principle of independent regulation is well entrenched<br />
and while good progress has been made in developing the institutional capacity to<br />
implement this policy choice in some areas (energy infrastructure and telecommunications),<br />
rapid improvement will be needed to further develop independent regulation of port, rail<br />
and airport services. The Presidency-led initiative to develop a framework for regulators<br />
should be accelerated during 2009.<br />
5.3.3 Timeous completion of infrastructure capital projects<br />
Because of the visibility, delays and cost overruns of many of the larger infrastructure<br />
projects like stadiums, pipelines, power stations and railway lines, they receive public and<br />
policy-maker attention. However, this is not the case with many of the smaller and mediumsized<br />
infrastructure projects across government. Financial data at the national, provincial<br />
and local government levels – what was budgeted and whether it was spent or not – is<br />
drawn from the national budgeting and reporting system, managed by National Treasury.<br />
In previous <strong>AsgiSA</strong> reports, more detail on infrastructure expenditure at project level was<br />
gleaned from National Treasury’s National Project Register. Since the beginning of <strong>2008</strong>,<br />
National Treasury has ceased to maintain the register (although its IGR Unit does maintain a<br />
smaller register of projects), but is able to track infrastructure expenditure at a macro level<br />
using the reporting mechanisms built into the MTEF process. In 2009, it will be important to<br />
weigh up the costs and benefits of resourcing and maintaining a national project registry and<br />
tracking system, which provides regular information on the status of each of the estimated<br />
24 000 government capital projects.<br />
The 2010 project experience shows how massive cost escalation can result from poor project<br />
planning, and contracting and management procedures, particularly when working against<br />
non-negotiable FIFA deadlines. The global downturn has shifted attention away from similarly<br />
critical economic infrastructure projects such as power generation, distribution and the<br />
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