DA Gauteng Debates 2016/17 Treasury Budget

Speech by: Adriana Randall

“Realistic plans needed to reduce fiscal drain in Gauteng”

  • We need real spending cuts, rather than cost containment measures. The emphasis is on the appropriate management of fiscal risk, strengthening fiscal consolidation and to enable government to be responsive in dealing with unforeseen and unaffordable expenditure.
  • New appointments must be subject to clear human resource plans with lower budgets.
  • Provincial entities with duplicate functions must be rationalized as far as possible as many of these agencies duplicate functions and services at national level.
  • Let’s agree that realistic plans, and the effective execution is now of great importance and that this budget must be all about growth – sustainable growth, inclusive growth and smart growth

The full speech can be obtained here.

 

Speech by: Mike Moriarty

“Treasury’s pedestrian approach to project implementation” 

  • The Treasury describes itself as an “activist” treasury, that may be true, but one area that remains arguably “pedestrian” rather than activist is in the matter of Public Private Partnerships.
  • The greater number of projects financed off balance sheet is undertaken by GIFA, so perhaps it will be argued that the outcomes will be found there, but there ought to be some measurable objective of this “specialised PPP capacity”.
  • It is not as if there are no infrastructural backlogs: 4 hospitals are overdue for delivery and an undefined number of clinics need to be built; there are about 100 schools that need to be built to meet the demand; and of course there is the long-awaited Kopanong Precinct.
  • The World Bank maintains a Private Participation in Infrastructure database. This showcases over 6400 public infrastructure projects, mostly in 139 low and middle income countries. These include Kenya, Tanzania, India and Vietnam.

The full speech can be obtained here.

 

Media Enquiries:

Adriana Randall MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC on Finance

060 556 4342

 

Mike Moriarty, MPL

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance

082 492 4410

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