E Cape gets new multi-department office precinct

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Bisho – The Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Public Works has set aside R255 million for the construction of an office precinct that will house up to seven provincial departments in one place.

Upon completion, the office precinct is expected to cost over R1 billion. Construction is expected to start in a matter of months once administrative processes have been concluded.

As the administrative capital of the government, Bisho accommodates a number of provincial government departments and this project aims to have more departments in one place.

Roads and Public Works MEC Thandiswa Marawu said: “Due to the lack of adequate office accommodation within the town, a large number of provincial government departments are housed in the nearby commercial centres of King Williams Town and East London”.

The MEC said this has had the unintended consequence of provincial government administrative functions becoming disjointed, which in turn has contributed towards avoidable inefficiencies in certain administrative operations.

According to the MEC, upon completion of construction of the project, the Bisho office precinct will house seven user departments and efficiency will be improved.

“The consolidation of the government departments will improve the operational efficiency of the provincial government coordination at the administrative levels ensuring better service delivery,” said the MEC.

The MEC said her office will also be providing thousands of jobs to unemployed graduates through this project in a bid to combat the unemployment scourge that plagues the Eastern Cape province.

“This project is expected to cost over R1 billion and create about 5000 job opportunities with the significant number of these jobs in the construction and operation phase of the office precinct,” Marawu said. 

Furthermore, the department has also made available R850 million over the next three years for the continuation of the multi-billion rand Mzamba to Magusheni road the MEC said. 

“The project is progressing very well and is expected to be completed by late 2017,” MEC Marawu said.

It comprises of R-61 Magusheni to Mzamba phase 1 with a contract value of R508 million, phase 2 with a contract value of R422.6 million and phase 3 and 4 with a contract value of R850 million for the completion of the remaining 40 kilometres. – SAnews.gov.za-TLM