PS reveals shocking neglect of gov�t buildings
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday June 2, 2017 18:00
When presenting before the Public Accounts Committee this week, Mokotedi said he was not aware of how many buildings the government has as there is no register which monitors that noting that they are also not insured and most need maintenance.
“Unfortunately I cannot tell how many buildings government has as there is no register which monitors that. Most of them are in a bad state as maintenance is not prioritised and not done on time as meant to be,” he said.
According to Mokotedi, the biggest challenge they face in the ministry is that maintenance has not been prioritised resulting in most of the buildings dilapidating as they struggle to find funding.
However, he said they have currently been working on implementing a system that will help with managing government’s projects as well as register all the government’s assets adding that they are doing it manually.
Going forward Mokotedi said the government should give the private sector a chance to build and lease from them, which he said, would be cost effective as it will ease government the burden of maintenance and insurance.
“As an economy, we need to open up space for the private sector as the public private partnerships (PPPs) is a good initiative which can help ease government’s burden. I know PPPs have been said to be expensive but we as government need to explore it,” he said.
Mokotedi further said there is a testimony that PPPs are effective as buildings that were built through the arrangement are in a better state than the ones that government has constructed. He said PPPs factor all the cost of the construction, maintenance and all the requirements including insurance hence the reason they regard it as expensive.
The SADC headquarters and the Ombudsman building are some of the buildings that were built through the PPPs model.
In addition he said the Ministry has a framework, which would empower and engage the private sector and encourage government to focus on monitoring of policies and implementation phases. “When the Ministry was reinstated, it forced us to come up with a strategy that can accommodate and help us to deliver our new mandate effectively,” he said.