Cape Town - Problems with two contracts and the nullification of a tender were the main reasons why the Western Cape public works department spent less than half of its infrastructure budget, it was reported on Friday.
Transport and public works MEC Robin Carlisle told the Cape Times it had also had problems buying land.
He was responding to a provincial treasury report which showed the department had spent R145m of the R406m available for infrastructure by the third quarter of the current financial year.
Carlisle said work on the R85m Khayelitsha shared services centre and a R45m maintenance contract stalled for months because of issues with the contracts and the grading of work.
It also had to stop a R12m contract for the daily cleaning of 133 schools and 13 clinics in the southern Cape, and the cleaning of vacant government land.
The Western Cape High Court ruled this contract had to be set aside because it considered the entire tender process to be "fatally flawed".