Building a new school now half the cost, Gordhan confirms
Thanks to the government’s chief procurement officer, building a school — and many other areas of government spending — are sensibly whittled down
How do you halve the cost of building a new school? Ask Kenneth Brown‚ the government’s chief procurement officer. Delivering his budget on Wednesday‚ Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the bill for a 7‚500m² school had been cut from R70m to R34m after discussions between Brown’s office and the Department of Basic Education on "cost-effective standards for building design". Other savings achieved by Brown’s office included: • R675m in 2016-17 on cellphones and vehicle contracts. "The vehicle contract alone is expected to save the state between R1bn and R1.5bn a year over the medium term‚" said Gordhan. • Between R2bn and R3bn on leasing property • R2.5bn over the next three years in the government’s 10 largest information and communication technology contracts
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