A MAJOR ROOF-TOP SOLAR PROJECT TO POWER 11 HOSPITALS IN GAUTENG AND REDUCE THE BURDEN ON THE NATIONAL GRID

Finance and e-Government MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko yesterday announced that the Roof-Top Solar Panel project, one of the major initiatives of the provincial government’s integrated green energy strategy, is expected to reach financial close this year.

This development represents a significant milestone and will enable construction to start on this important initiative which entails installing solar panels on rooftops of provincial government buildings to meet each facility’s electricity consumption.

“The successful financing and implementation of the Rooftop Solar PV, Phase 1 this year will lead to 11 provincial hospitals harnessing close to 10MW of their own electricity power from rooftop solar PVs, thus alleviating the burden on the national grid. Meanwhile, we will be supporting the objectives of Gauteng Integrated Green Energy Strategy, she said.

These hospitals are George Mukhari Hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, Laudium Hospital, Mamelodi Hospital, Tembisa Hospital, Yusuf Dadoo Hospital, Carltonville Hospital, Tshwane Hospital, Heidelberg Hospital, Edenvale Hospital and Steve Biko Hospital.

The Roof-Top Solar Panel initiative is one of the projects of the Gauteng Infrastructure Financing Agency (GIFA), which is a government component of Provincial Treasury. The agency is responsible for sourcing alternative funding for strategic infrastructure projects of the province.

In addition, the MEC said an agreement will be signed soon between the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), and the private party which will result in SANSA acquiring operating space as the anchor tenant at the Innovation Hub’s Enterprise Building 3.

“This is a significant milestone in that it will bring the much-needed confidence to the Innovation Hub to attract smart industries, green economy companies and high-value added service industries to take up occupancy within the hub.”

In line with provincial government’s commitment to support the revival and reinvention of the economies of the Southern and Western Corridors, GIFA has completed the feasibility study and business case of the Sedibeng Fresh Produce Market. This entails the refurbishment of the existing market, modernise the facility, increase its size and introduce an agro-processing component.

“This R500 million project will create approximately 6000 direct and indirect job opportunities and positively impact on the Gross Domestic Product of the region. GIFA and the municipality are working with the National Treasury to deliver this project as a PPP, whereby the private party will finance, build, and operate the fresh produce market,” MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

Promoting transparency, public accountability, and ethical conduct

Turning to Provincial Treasury, the MEC said the department will this financial year double efforts to sustain improvements in public financial management in the Gauteng City Region and further cut waste, eliminate corruption, and strengthen public accountability.

To achieve this objective, Provincial Treasury is leading the War Room on Clean Audits, 10 to 30 Day Payment and Transformative Procurement.

The War Room brings together Provincial Treasury, Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance, Office of the Auditor-General, Audit Committees, National Departments, Academia, and private sector representatives with expertise on specialized areas such as legal, finance, ethics, supply chain and policy.

“Through this War Room, we will unleash the collective knowledge and skills of this team to address provincial government challenges in four areas: litigation, consequence management, payment of invoices within 10 to 30 days and transformative procurement,” she said.

“As part of the work of this War Room, Provincial Treasury is already working with departments who did not achieve good results in paying suppliers within 30 days in the previous financial year and these are Social Development, Health, and Infrastructure Development. We are intervening in these departments to resolve outstanding payments and ensure that going forward all our departments pay suppliers on time. This is important to support small business particularly township enterprises,” MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

Since 2014, a total of 272 contracts valued at R34 billion have been awarded through the Open Tender process.

“Since April 2020, in line with Section 38 of the Public Finance Management Act which details the general responsibilities of Accounting Officers, Provincial Treasury has been engaged in a process of decentralising the Open Tender function to departments. To date, the function of managing Open Tender has been successfully handed over to 12 departments and entities,” she added.

Provincial Treasury has been allocated a budget of R792 million for the 2022/23 financial year.

Ends

For more information please contact:

Tshepo Shawa

MEC Spokesperson

072 222 6333

tshepo.shawa@gauteng.gov.za

For media releases, speeches and news visit the Gauteng Provincial Government’s portal at www.gauteng.gov.za.