SITA pilots local govt nerve centre

By Staff Writer for SITA

Johannesburg, 18 Oct 2004

The State IT Agency (SITA) is piloting the first phase of the Department of Provincial and Local Government's (DPLG) Integrated Development Planning Nerve Centre (IDPNC).

The pilot is running in the North West province, where it has linked municipal and sector department projects to a registry system that informs provincial budgeting and monitoring.

The project is being headed by SITA, but its development is being handled by the CSIR in partnership with the DPLG.

The national implementation of the IDPNC, which is expected to cost R11 million, will allow for the integration of activities across the three spheres of government. The national roll-out will begin before the end of this year.

This initiative will centralise and make available to municipalities all planning, legislation, policy and development intentions at national and provincial level, on a common 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.

"As a developing country, we must use ICT as a catalyst for development, and ensure 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," says SITA CEO Mavuso Msimang.

The IDPNC will make available key information to the entire government, ensuring all spheres have a common knowledge of the development intentions of municipalities across the country.