Gauteng launches Community Works Programme
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 10:13
Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane has announced the large-scale massive Community Works Programme that will provide poor households in the 50 poorest regions of the province with jobs for at least 100 days. Most of the jobs will be created through the second phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
Mokonyane believes that the key to developing the regional economy is to focus on infrastructure development, and more specifically in the form of labour-intensive projects as with the EPWP.
Speaking about ongoing discussions between the province, local government and business, Mokonyane saidf that it was "generally agreed that investment in public infrastructure development should remain one of the key interventions. We will continue to utilise and promote labour intensive methods in all our infrastructure development projects to maximise job creation".
With the province's focus on skills development from labour-intensive projects, some 56 new projects will be implemented in the upcoming financial year. Mokonyane said that these will include work on on new roads, schools, hospitals, clinics and community centres, waste management and craft hubs.
"Through the EPWP, we have already created 120 000 job opportunities of which 66 000 beneficiaries were women, 960 people with disability and the remaining 48 000 (men)," she added.
Other focus areas for the province wil be industrial policy, strategic economic infrastructure and the green economy, which she believes have the potential to create more long-term and sustainable jobs. Mokonyane reiterated that the provincial government will continue to support economic sectors that have the greatest potential of creating decent work and opportunities.
Mokonyane said that by working with labour and other spheres of government, the province would play its part in revitalising the manufacturing sector in Gauteng. Among the sectors she identified were automotive, clothing, textile, leather and footwear, transport and construction.
