The public sector’s capital expenditure increased by R14-billion to R272-billion in 2015 alone, according to a report released by Statistics SA on Tuesday.

Capital expenditure refers to money spent on the purchasing or improvement of land, buildings, engineering structures, machinery and equipment.

Statistician-general Pali Lehohla said in the past five years the public sector spent more than R1.1-trillion on capital expenditure of which spending on new construction represented the biggest portion.

He stressed that the data on capital expenditure by the public sector is an important instrument that can assist a democratic South Africa in holding municipalities accountable.

In 2015, the largest increase of close to 54% was recorded by public corporations who spent altogether R146.5-billion, followed by municipalities’ spending of R59-billion, representing an increase of 21.7% compared to the previous year.

Between the 2014 and 2015 financial years capital expenditure increased on new construction works on which R26.1-billion was spent. There was a decline in capital expenditure on plant, machinery and equipment, land and existing buildings, transport equipment and leased assets and investment property.

According to the data released by Statistics SA, more than R35.7-billion was spent on the power generation projects at Kusile, Medupi and Ingula; R35-billion was spent on railway equipment, such as locomotives and R6.1-billion on the overhaul of coaches and signalling for passenger rail in South Africa.

Spending on roads declined in 2015, and represented R9.1-billion expenditure on non-toll roads. During question time, Lehohla acknowledged that although significant amounts are being spent on service delivery aspects there has been a surge in public protests in the past years. “We see society is getting services, but we also see public protests relating to the quality of these services. The issues here are more nuanced.”

Provincial governments’ expenditure increased by 11.4% to R31-billion, while national government’s spending climbed by 5.9% to R16.1-billion.

Looking at spending on municipal level, the three municipalities in Gauteng that spent the largest amount on construction works were Johannesburg (53%), Tswhane (24%) and Ekurhuleni (17%). Gauteng province spent altogether R17.1-billion on construction works, followed by KwaZulu-Natal where expenditure was R9.7-billion.

In the Western Cape, where a total of R5.4-billion was spent on construction, Cape Town was responsible for the lion’s share of construction spending that amounted to 66%, followed by George (6%) and Stellenbosch (4%).