Municipal spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, said in a written response to OFM News’ questions on the matter that the grant was initially allocated in the 2006/7 financial year but did not specify as to how much was allocated.

OFM News has reliably learned that R48 million was allocated to the municipality in March of 2016. The municipality is said to have in turn spent R58 million towards the Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) that year, overspending on the money allocated. This allocation and expenditure were not included in the 2015/16 budget, because the transfer occurred after the budget adjustment. Olebogeng Motse reports that records indicate that the municipality says there was no over-expenditure.

Indications are that the money spent on the project in 2015/16 was recovered when the municipality received its allocation of the country’s revenue as is required in the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA). The municipality further adds that the budget for 2016/17 included the over expenditure and the DoRA allocations. When probed on plans underway to improve the state of the roads in the metro, Khedama tells OFM News the city is currently in the process of improving road infrastructure and rehabilitating some of the main routes, such as Moshoeshoe and Harvey Roads – the latter which is in Bloemfontein’s City Centre. Last year Members of the Portfolio Committee on Transport voiced their reservations about the implementation and need for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system at the Mangaung Metro, stressing the metro needed to work on its road infrastructure before procuring buses.

Khedama referred to a number of road infrastructure projects, including the construction of non-motorised transport roadworks in the pipeline as an indication that work is being carried out to improve the quality of the metro’s roads. Glad Africa & LTE was appointed as the service provider in the project around 2015. The company also listed Mangaung’s Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) as one of its projects on its website in 2016. The company which has offices across the country is responsible for the design and implementation of the project – at a cost of around R5 billion.

OFM News