Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) implementation strategy for municipal development in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Eastern Cape

Abstract

The MIG was introduced to promote infrastructure development at the local government level and to improve service delivery, particularly in rural areas, to address unemployment, poverty, and inequality. The MIG policy was then introduced by the Department of Provincial and Local Government as the first infrastructure development policy in response to the country's social and rural economic development challenges. It aimed to prioritise poverty eradication and socio-economic development. The policy gained support and positive responses from the people of the Eastern Cape and other parts of the country. Therefore, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, as a Category A municipality, is one of the municipalities that has implemented the MIG to provide infrastructure development. However, it has been highlighted by the National Treasury’s Report on Medium-Term Infrastructure Spending (2019/2021a) that municipalities still find it challenging to spend their allocated MIG funds despite the pressing municipality needs due to effective and efficient prevailing capacity constraints, especially in project planning. This inefficiency stems from the insignificant sustainability of the MIG implementation strategy, which is restricted by several factors. Therefore, the study focused on exploring an alternative MIG implementation strategy for municipal development. Consequently, the study assessed the MIG implementation in Nelson Mandela Bay. This study utilised a mixed-methods approach, employing quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Data was collected, using structured questionnaires which were distributed to 50 respondents’ participants and qualitative data was collected through two focus group discussions. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, structural equation modelling, chi-square tests, and factor analyses while the qualitative research data was analysed using Thematic analysis. The Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 29.0 and Smart PLS4 software were used for data analysis. The study found that implementing the MIG is ineffective, particularly in the initial phases, as it fails to assist the municipality in providing essential services to the community. The inadequate MIG implementation plan emerged as a significant factor. The study respondents requested an enhanced MIG implementation strategy. This requires developing a customised MIG implementation framework upon which a plan can be developed for institutionalisation. Therefore, this study proposed a systemic MIG implementation framework that will contribute to the existing literature by providing approaches that can be used to address the challenges faced in sustainable MIG implementation. Moreover, this framework can serve as a point of reference for researchers, municipalities and practitioners to facilitate better application of MIG strategies for various municipalities. Also, the findings of this study may contribute to the public administration theory by demonstrating how a sustainable MIG implementation strategy can influence the allocation and management of grants for infrastructure development in local government. The study concludes that the existing MIG policy framework is adequate but requires monitoring to ensure the proper implementation of infrastructure projects. Therefore, this study recommends that the MIG guidelines and implementation toolkits should be standardised and used by various MIG agencies.