17 Mar 2024

The progress made by ministries on project implementation across the country is satisfactory, says Vice President Mr Slumber Tsogwane.

 Mr Tsogwane told Parliament on March 15 that project implementation entailed various stages such as project initiation, securing land, viability or feasibility environmental impact assessment, detailed design and cost estimation, tender documentation, procurement and construction. He explained that the stages were lengthy but necessary for quality project delivery.

“At times they may be deemed to be delaying the construction stage but these preparatory stages are fundamental to ensure less problematic and sustainability of projects,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane said ministries were at different stages of the Transitional National Development Plan project implementation, depending on the size and complexity of the projects. For the financial year 2023/24, he said, there were 664 projects planned for implementation by various ministries.

He said a total of 583 projects fell under the normal project implementation by ministries, while 145 were being implemented through the Development Manager (DM) Model under the Ministry of Transport and Public Works.

“As of 31 December 2023, out of 583 projects being implemented by ministries, their status was as follows, 29 were completed, 99 projects were ongoing and on schedule, 146 projects were ongoing but behind schedule due to various reasons such as change of scope, contractor performance, etc. 

As I indicated, a total of 145 projects are being implemented through the Development Manager Model. 

These projects are currently going through the preliminary request needs assessment stages in readiness for tendering or procurement,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane added that some of the projects were expected to start in March while others we expected in April. The vice president said he was satisfied with the ongoing process.

“As I said, the planned projects had to be subjected to assessment so as to reduce the risk for failure that has hitherto be-devilled projects implementation in this country. That notwithstanding, government has always been proactive, and it is for this reason that we have embarked on a number of reforms to facilitate projects delivery,” he said.

He said the reforms included implementation of projects through two delivery models, being the conventional infrastructure projects delivery model under various ministries and the Development Manager Model, commonly known as DM Model.

Mr Tsogwane pointed out that the DM Model would mitigate shortage of project management skills through appointment of highly experienced professional teams. He stated that the experienced professionals were expected to transfer skills for future national development implementation. He further said the reforms would improve projects management through strengthening capacity of officers involved in project conceptualization, planning and implementation monitoring with various ministries.

“These reforms are directed at addressing challenges such as weak project management, lack of capacity to implement projects, under-estimation of projects budget, poor scoping, poor performance by contractors, contractual disputes and the tendering to dis-empower our citizens by some contractors,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane said the responsibility for projects site visits rested with ministries, not the office of the vice president. He said various professionals in ministries and at times ministers visited projects. He said the office of Vice President provided oversight on implementation, harmonisation of policies and addressing challenges that impact the implementation of projects.

Nata/Gweta MP, Mr Polson Majaga had asked the Vice President to state progress made by ministries on project implementation across the country, and to state whether he was satisfied with the developments as chief coordinator of projects implementation in the country.ENDS