Western Cape Minister of Finance Alan Winde has advised provincial Parliament that the provincial budget for the 2012/13 financial year has been revised upwards by R340.9-million.

In his delivery of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement for 2014 to 2017 and the Adjusted Estimates of Provincial Expenditure 2013 to provincial Parliament on Thursday, Winde said the bulk of this increase would provide for infrastructure-related expenditure.

“R69.8-million is provided for hospital revitalisation and other infrastructure-related issues, while R19.9-million is provided for the repair and replacement of infrastructure damaged by the recent floods,” he commented.

In addition, R86.3-million was allocated for provincial regeneration projects, while R89.4-million was allotted to roads infrastructure projects and R54-million to property acquisition.

Winde held that an additional R92.2-million had been allocated to infrastructure-related projects from the 2012/13 provincial rollover and revenue over-collection, of which R4-million was dedicated to the refurbishment of Parliament, R9-million to social development facilities, R19-million to the acceleration of housing delivery and a further R59-million to roads infrastructure.

“Further allocations are made from 2012/13 provincial rollovers, shifts between departments and the contingency reserve for unforeseeable and unavoidable allocations,” he said.

These funds would be channelled to “diverse education requirements”, information communication technologies (ICT) services, the Khayelitsha police commission of inquiry, the green economy, aerial fire fighting and the 2014 African Nations Championship soccer tournament.

Meanwhile, in the 2013 Main Budget, funding for transversal projects such as ICT and broadband, skills development, the green economy and the regional socioeconomic development programmes had been appropriated and provisionally reserved in a dedicated programme in Provincial Treasury. 

“These funds are accessible by departments subject to due costing, roll-out, prioritisation and credible implementation plans,” Winde noted.