State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is piloting the first phase of the Department of Provincial and Local Government's (DPLG) Integrated Development Planning Nerve Centre (IDPNC).
This pilot of the IDPNC is presently running in the North West province, where it has successfully linked municipal and sector department projects to a registry system that informs provincial budgeting and monitoring.
The national implementation of the IDPNC, which is expected to cost a total of R11 million, will facilitate the integration of activities across the three spheres of government.
This Integrated Development Planning (IDP) is important for the delivery of essential services. The national roll-out of the IDPNC is expected to commence before the end of 2004. This initiative will centralise and make available to municipalities all IDP planning, legislation, policy and development intentions at national and provincial level, on a common information and communications technology (ICT) platform. In terms of the agreement between SITA and the DPLG, SITA will act as the implementation agency for the IDPNC, while the DPLG will have overall management responsibility. The nerve centre will serve as a tool to support intergovernmental planning, and forms part of the President's Co-ordinating Council's Action Plan for Local Government.
"The success of this pilot in the North West is a commendable indication of the potential of the IDPNC, and partnering with SITA will add value and momentum to this process as the agency understands the challenges that face government in the area of co-ordinating development planning," says DPLG Director-General, Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela.
Says SITA CEO Mavuso Msimang: "As a developing country, we must use ICT as a catalyst for development, and ensure that it is employed in a manner that responds to the challenges faced by government in the sphere of public service delivery, and this agreement does exactly that."
The IDPNC will make available key IDP information to the entire government, ensuring that all spheres have a common knowledge of the development intentions of municipalities across the country.
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