The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) is partnering with Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) to move closer to becoming a modern and smart organisation in terms of the delivery of infrastructure that addresses economic and social goals.

Addressing a recent press conference in Pretoria, Gauteng, to announce the partnership, Infrastructure Development MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the department intended to tap into Stats SA’s data management experience.

“The DID needs to use credible, reliable, reputable data to inform its planning so that it can make the right impact on its communities. “The department manages a R7-billion budget and we are deeply concerned that money that we get from the public is not being used as efficiently and effectively as it should be,” Mamabolo said.

He added that the DID needed to have the capability, at institutional level to see where its resources were going and what impact it was having on improving the living conditions of people in Gauteng – far and away South Africa’s most industrialised province.

Mamabolo added that South Africa had achieved a lot since 1994, but had not yet mastered the art and science of working efficiently and effectively.

“The real problem we are trying to resolve is ensuring that our infrastructure delivery programme transforms and changes the living conditions of our people,” he said.

He added that the province’s infrastructure programme should have a positive impact on South Africa’s economy, create jobs and reduce poverty and inequality.

Statistician-general Dr Pali Lehohla said that between 1994 and now, “we have had some wasted opportunities – we must reorganise our tools to determine the impact on individual citizens”, he noted.

He added that land should be used as an effective instrument of transformation.

Lehohla pointed out that the DID took the "first step" towards a “data revolution” when it built a first-of-its-kind, high-tech project nerve centre called Lutsinga Infrastructure House, which manages the Gauteng provincial government’s assets digitally.

“Through Lutsinga, the provincial government is now able to track developments across its build programme and its R31-billion property portfolio,” he said.

Lehohla stated that Lutsinga was the visible manifestation of how data could be harnessed to show tangible gains.

He committed to helping the Gauteng province track the impact of infrastructure development programmes on communities, including job creation and economic participation.