After a disappointing lack of focus on major ICT projects in the state of the nation and budget addresses, major Gauteng projects are not expected to fare any better as the provincial government struggles to source funding.
Problematic initiatives, such as the Gauteng Link project, the health smart card project and the Gauteng Online programme, are some of the major projects expected to be addressed later this month by premier Nomvula Mokonyane.
But Denis Smit, MD of BMI-TechKnowledge, says not much should be expected on the province's major broadband infrastructure project, Gauteng Link. Funding challenges are still a concern and he notes that this could affect the progress of the project.
“The scale of the project is in excess of what they [the Gauteng province] can afford,” says Smit.
Protea Hirschel, ICT industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, says there does appear to be some under-spending on ICT projects in the province. She adds that national revenues are under pressure and this will impact spending in the Gauteng province.
Smit says provincial broadband projects are being looked at by the Department of Communications through the National Broadband Policy. The policy will harmonise national, provincial and local broadband projects.
He adds that finance minister Pravin Gordhan didn't allocate any funds to the Gauteng Link Project in his medium-term expenditure framework. While funds may be allocated afterwards to the project, not much progress should be expected this year, says Smit.
Bad management
While Gauteng finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe made no funding reductions - as part of reshuffling the various ICT projects - in November 2009, none of the bigger IT projects in the province received any additional allocations either.
The R100 million allocated for provincial IT infrastructure programmes earlier in the year was not affected. However, the MEC offered no clarity on funding for the Gauteng Link project and additional funding for major ICT projects.
The province has also been plagued by mismanagement and poor financial controls, which are likely to further impact ICT projects.
Despite spending over R9 million and receiving millions in government grants for the Gauteng Link project, the project has been delayed for almost three years. The project received R29 million in government grants, but is speculated to cost billions.
The Gauteng Shared Services Centre, which inherited the project from Blue IQ, previously reported that no budget had been allocated and, while the business case is complete, the project was yet to be approved.
The health smart card project has been delayed due to the province's austerity measures. Nkomfe previously instructed resources to be shifted from non-core to core projects and reprioritise their budgets, leading to the delay of the project, which is still being assessed by the department.
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