Pretoria – The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) increased its allocation to metro and local municipalities in the past year in a bid to improve the provision of basic services.
In a statement on Wednesday, the bank -- which finances and implements infrastructure projects and coordinates regional integration -- also upped its investments outside South Africa within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region in the past year, while it played a key role in eliminating mud schools in the Eastern Cape.
Speaking prior to the release of the 2012/13 annual results, Patrick Dlamini, the chief executive of DBSA, said: “We are confident that the implementation of the bank's growth strategy, will enable us to improve the scale of development impact and contribute in bridging the infrastructure gap to enhance the prosperity and well-being of people in South Africa and on the continent.
“We are releasing this year's annual results against the backdrop of a challenging operating environment, especially in the metro and state-owned enterprises markets, as well as the impact of the downturn of the economy.”
Releasing the results, the bank announced:
- It had increased its allocation to municipalities by 36.5% compared to the previous year to eliminate service delivery backlogs, with R2.3 billion being channelled to metro municipalities and R937 million being given to under-resourced municipalities;
- Another R1.4 billion was allocated for water infrastructure projects in South Africa; and
- Some R5.6 billion was spent outside South Africa within the region, compared to the R3.8 billion achieved during 2011/12. This included investments in the energy and transport sectors in Angola, Mozambique and Zambia, with R2.9 billion approved for projects in these countries.
The Development Bank also announced that it facilitated the implementation of the Accelerated School Infrastructure Development Programme (ASIDI) to eradicate unhealthy and unsafe school structures in the Eastern Cape.
To date, the bank has completed the construction of 17 of 49 schools and the remaining 32 schools will be completed during the 2013/14 financial year. – SAnews.gov.za
