Abstract
The Water Services Infrastructure Grant is a grant allocated for the development and implementation of water infrastructure projects in the public sector in South Africa. However, despite funds being made available for implementation, many of these projects are exposed to risk factors which cause them to exhibit poor performance in terms of exceeding their implementation schedules, budgets, or by being abandoned during construction, or redundant at completion. Furthermore, despite the provision of water and sanitation being the forefront of service delivery objectives in South Africa as envisaged by the Constitution, the achievement of this objective is hindered by the continued high rate of water infrastructure project failures. The mitigation of failure of water infrastructure projects implemented by municipalities and funded by the Water Services Infrastructure Grant is a gap the study aims to resolve by identifying the risk factors associated with the failure of these projects, and developing systems, processes and controls to mitigate water infrastructure project failures and improve service delivery. The research questions were:
1.
What are the causative factors for water infrastructure project failures in municipalities?
2.
What are the mitigation or prevention strategies that can be implemented to address water infrastructure project failures in municipalities?
The study adopted a qualitative research approach where questionnaires were used to collect insights from professionals involved in the implementation of failed water infrastructure projects in the public sector. The questionnaire prompted the participants on their interpretation of failed projects, their views on what caused the projects to fail, and what mitigation strategies could be implemented to prevent project failures in the public water sector.
The findings revealed inexperienced personnel and service providers, poor project scoping, poor budgeting practices, and undue political and external interference as the causative factors of water infrastructure project failures in municipalities. The findings further revealed adherence to strict competency requirements in terms of staff and service provider appointments, robust and meticulous planning activities, and a collaborative and inclusive approach to stakeholder engagement between political leadership and community stakeholders will mitigate project failures. This study contributes to the public water infrastructure sector by uncovering impediments to service delivery and galvanizes political and community leadership to work in collaboration with each other for the benefit all stakeholders.