‘RAL leads the way forward with clean finances book’
“We are satisfied with the outstanding work that has been done at RAL in improving the agency’s finances for the better.”
LIMPOPO – These were the words the MEC for Roads and Infrastructure, Jerry Ndou, during Road Agency Limpopo’s (RAL) annual general meeting held in Polokwane last week.
“We are further confident that under the tutelage of the new board, the agency will now be able to move from qualified to clean audit opinion this financial year. The agency’s improved audit opinion, though not of satisfactory, represents a significant step in the right direction towards an attainment of a clean audit opinion in the next financial year. One of the outstanding items in improving the audit opinion further is cleaning up the asset register. We have properly identified all the assets, including provincial roads in an effort to establish the kind of condition they are currently in and improve where it is necessary- all in the name of bettering our performance,” Ndou emphasised. In the last financial year, RAL completed 31 road construction projects having been left unattended in the wake of the Section 101 sanction which saw several departments in Limpopo put under administration.
RAL undertook to complete crucial projects such as the Bermuda roads between Ga Phasha and Mampuru and the road leading to the Kruger National Park before the end of this financial year.
RAL Chief Executive Officer, Maselaganye Matji said the agency has recently entered into partnerships with the private sector, including mining giants Exxaro and Anglo American, Ledjadja Coal and PPC Cement Company in an endeavour to co-fund the construction of key roads poised to swell the economy of the province.
Matji said road infrastructure improvement projects contribute massively to the local economy through job creation.
“In all road construction projects, RAL ring fences 30% of the construction value to local SMMEs and suppliers. This serves as a vehicle for supporting and growing the local economy.
“In addition to the 30%, an additional minimum of 8% of the construction value is designed to support local labour. It is through these initiatives that road infrastructure improvement projects contribute massively to local economies.
Ndou reappointed a board of directors whose duties both in finances and management spoke volumes, after just three years serving the board, he said.
This re-appointment, according to Ndou is billed to see the board steering the agency into the new direction for another three years.
thoko@nmgroup.co.za
