“Workaholic” Public Works Minister Nxesi visits another infrastructure project. Report by Vusi Shabalala
Report by Vusi Shabalala
Infrastructure development is the threshold of service delivery and always remains a priority agenda point for Government of the day. We now turn our focus on an official visit by the Minister of Public Works, Mr Thembeleni Nxesi as he visited three infrastructure projects in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal during MINMEC visit on the 6th of December 2012. During the visits, Mr Nxesi was joined by Deputy Minister for Public Works, Mr Jeremy Cronin, MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works, Mr Ravi Pillay, Head of Department for Public Works, Mr A Govender and other MECs from other provinces together with the executive of the Department of Public Works. Amongst the sites visited thus far was the Phoenix Health Centre. Phoenix Community Health Centre is situated in Ward 52 of the Northern Cluster of eThekwini Municipality. The Health Care Centre is at Wetstone in the suburb of Phoenix. Community Health Care Centre which was undergoing renovations and upgrading of wards, offices and ablution facilities and other additions to the existing Phoenix Community Health Centre, (Blocks “B” and “J”) equipped with all the relevant medical equipment to ensure that the community health needs are met. Block “J” will be altered to be a double- storey building while block “B” remains a single storey building. The project further provides the community with an improved facility that complies with the standards of the Department of Health. The Phoenix CHC Project aims at creating jobs targeting youth, women and people with disabilities from the local Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu Community (PINK). The targeted number of jobs to be created in this project is 75 people. To date the project has created 57 jobs which include skilled and unskilled local labour. Currently the ratio on labour is 60% local and 40% outside the local area
The Ministerial delegation during the briefing at the
Phoenix Community Health Centre.
The main contractor has external skilled Artisans who transfer skills to the local labourers. The Features of the centre are: New Waiting, Counseling and Examination Rooms for Tuberculosis (TB) and Antiretroviral (ARV) Treatment Patients; Pharmacy, Stores, Help desk for enquiries and Nursing Station; Blood, Procedures and Rehydration Rooms; Toilets, Sluice Room, Linen Room, Gas and Vacuum Generators; Data Capture and Administration Rooms; Psychologist, Social Workers, Dietician and ARV Supervisor Offices; Staff Rest Rooms and Store Rooms; Entrance Hall, Registry Office and Waiting Area; Telephone and Data Systems Room. The Implementation of this Project complies with Labour Intensive Construction Methods An added value to the project is the local sub-contracting. The following local sub-contractors (from PINK area) have benefited from the projects: Carpentry: Truss Net ; Joinery: Ally Solutions; Environmental: Khumbuza Contractors (soil poisoning); and Air-conditioning: Airotronics In terms of Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) compliance the project is being implemented in line with EPWP Guidelines and EPWP Phase 2 requirements. The site is compliant to the minimum daily wage for unskilled labourers as they are paid R100 per daily task. Demographics of labour currently employed are as follows: Jobs created = 57 Youth employed = 32 Physically challenged persons = 1 Women employed = 15 and Men above 35 year = 25 The contractor ensures on a monthly basis that the EPWP data is provided to the Department in the supplied EPWP data collection form and the same report forms part of the technical report. All employees on site have signed the employment contracts in line the DoL Ministerial Determination.
There is a Project Steering Committee (PSC) that consists of Ward councillors, Community Liaison Officer and Clinic Management that regularly attend site progress meetings. Local Leadership provides support in urgently resolving labour issues on site. The employment of local labour on this project is coordinated by the Community Liaison Officer Ms Butheechunder, who is a female youth.
The contractor ensures on a monthly basis that the EPWP data is provided to the Department in the supplied EPWP data collection form and the same report forms part of the technical report. All employees on site have signed the employment contracts in line the Department of Labour (DoL) Ministerial Determination. Skills development has significantly improved in a sense that three learners in total are absorbed by the project - One from FET (Civil Engineering) and two from Durban University of Technology (Construction Management and Quantity Surveying) are doing inservice training on this project. All labourers have also been inducted on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and HIV/Aids as part of EPWP.
Seen above is construction underway at the Phoenix
Community Health Centre
Above is MEC Pillay and Minister of Public Works, Mr
Nxesi doing some rounds at the construction site.
In conclusion, the project team consists of the following members, namely, Mr TD Khumalo from KZN Public Works who serve as the project leader, the Principal Agent being DGIT Architects T/A Langa Makhanya Architects CC, the quantity surveyor being ABAKALI Quantity Surveyors, Kantey and Templer serve as Civil Engineer, the Land Surveying and Electrical Engineering done by WSP Group and the contractor being RGZ Projects cc. This project has a total project budget of R17 780 000.00 for a contract period of 15 months with a physical percentage progress rate of 45%.