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Johannesburg - The City of Cape Town spent around R4.5bn of its R5.6bn budget for the 2013/2014 financial year, mayor Patricia de Lille said on Wednesday.
"Over the last financial year, it is likely that we will see a reduced spend in the region of 80.6%," she said in a statement.
In the 2012/13 financial year a record 94.3% of the city's capital budget was spent on projects, or R5.7bn out of R6.2bn.
This was likely to increase when all outstanding payments had been finalised.
"The reasons for this reduced capital expenditure are primarily factors beyond our control such as contractors being liquidated or companies under-performing."
Cases of such underspend included R182.6m for transport, almost R24m for utilities, R34m for housing, R19m for community services and R8.6m for economic, environmental and spatial planning. The total underspend was R251 482 245.
"It needs to be underscored that the reduced capital expenditure as a result of these factors does not mean that the projects are cancelled or that the funds are lost to the city," De Lille said.
In most cases the funding would be rolled over and revised project schedules put in place. "The City of Cape Town will not be satisfied until we spend 100% of our capital budget.
"We will now redouble our efforts and strengthen our systems," De Lille said.
The city would include only tender-ready projects in the budgeting process, and review methods of planning and project management capacity.
