Infrastructure

1. (a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv) Please see attached Excel Spreadsheet.

2.      (a)The delays experienced in the implementation of road projects were the result of several significant challenges that affected the Department’s ability to deliver infrastructure timeously and efficiently. These challenges included:

• Lengthy approval processes from external stakeholders, which slowed the initiation and progression of key road and infrastructure projects and contributed to overall delivery delays.
• Interdependencies with other State Entities:
• Delays frequently arise from dependencies on other organs of state—particularly around utility relocations, service adjustments, and management of shared infrastructure assets.
• Severe weather events, Increasing climate variability and extreme weather events, such as flooding, create large-scale repair needs and place additional pressure on budgets and project timelines. The major floods of 2023 and further flooding in the 2024/25 financial year caused extensive damage to the provincial road network, resulted in emergency road closures, and required the Department to redirect resources to undertake urgent flood repairs. A number of affected roads still require permanent rehabilitation, the progress of which is dependent on the availability of sufficient funding, especially given reductions to the Transport Infrastructure budget and limited national disaster management support.
• Environmental and Heritage Constraints:
• Road maintenance in areas with sensitive biodiversity or heritage significance requires careful planning, specialised approvals, and adaptive construction methods to minimise ecological impact
• Capacity pressures within the construction industry, including the loss of skilled technical staff to competing markets locally and abroad, as well as physical disruptions on construction sites. These pressures have undermined the ability of contractors to consistently drive, manage and deliver infrastructure projects.
• Community-related disruptions and safety risks, including extortion attempts by so-called “development forums,” gangsterism, violence, land invasions and service-delivery protests. These incidents, increasingly common across the public sector, severely hamper project delivery and place additional strain on the budget due to the need for enhanced security measures to safeguard sites, personnel and contractors.

(b)To address these challenges and mitigate their impact on service delivery, the Department has implemented a range of interventions aimed at strengthening project delivery, improving resilience and reducing future delays. These measures include:

• Improving planning, management and governance systems to ensure that projects are better prepared, monitored and supported throughout their lifecycle.
• Enhancing accountability frameworks within the Department and with implementing partners to support timely decision-making and early identification of risks that may delay implementation.
• Prioritising and reallocating resources to strategically important road corridors, ensuring that critical routes damaged by weather events are repaired and reopened as quickly as possible.
• Strengthening engagement with external stakeholders to expedite approvals and reduce administrative bottlenecks that affect project commencement and progress.
• Working closely with contractors and industry partners to address capacity constraints, improve performance and support the timely delivery of infrastructure projects.
• Implementing measures to mitigate community-related disruptions, including enhanced collaboration with law-enforcement agencies and improved on-site security arrangements to protect project sites and ensure safe working environments for contractors and personnel.

Capacity-building workshops, mentorship programmes and streamlined administrative processes can further enhance contractor readiness.