The functioning of project management units in municipalities: lessons from North West Province municipalities

Abstract

South African municipalities participating in the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Programme, are required to establish or share (through the shared service model with district municipalities) project management units (PMUs). Set-up requirements, known as MIG Guidelines (2004/07), were issued to municipalities by the former Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg). Due to various models that are available for the establishment of these PMUs and the unique circumstances that municipalities face, they responded differently to this challenge. The purpose of this article is to explore the functioning of these units based on the MIG Guidelines (2004/07) and to identify particular lessons that could be learnt from municipalities that utilise this mechanism. Local and district municipalities in the North-West Province were utilised as case study. The main contribution of this article is a best-practice framework which could be utilised by other municipalities that are contemplating the establishment and/or further development of such units.