New employment initiative for Transport, Public Works

By Celeste Ganga
27 February 2008

The Western Cape’s Department of Transport and Public Works has launched a R90 million shared service centre that will steer public transport in the province into an exciting era. According to Dougie Oakes from the department, the centre seeks to bring some of the public transport related matters under one roof.

“The unique thing about it (the centre) is that in building it, we going to pull in people from different communities to help with the construction,” says Oakes.

He adds that because the building is going to be in Athlone, they’ve decided to look at the unemployed who live within a five kilometre radius of the building, and bring them in to help with construction.

“We are also looking at business people in the area, so that we can buy raw materials from them. And also people who can help with plant hire requirements, will also be utilised in the area,” explains Oakes.

The department is planning on spending R19 million rand over the 15 month period that the building will take to be built. Of the R19 million, over R3 million rand each will be set aside for women and youth. In terms of suppliers, more than R30 million will be used on local suppliers.