South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe has launched the new headquarters for Statistics South Africa, a giant “green” building next to the Freedom Park monument located in Salvokop, Pretoria, which swallowed over US$73.2 million during its construction.
“ISIbalo House has been constructed at the tune of about R1.4-billion,” he said. “It is the initiative of our government to encourage public private partnerships in the construction industry.
This project has brought national government departments, the Gauteng provincial government and the Tshwane Metro as well as the private sector to pull together in a manner that continues to assure us that working together we can do it.
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“I am proud to say that the project to build this state-of-the-art building took only 18 months to complete. There is a considerable number of jobs that were created during the construction phase and we trust that more jobs will be created in the future.
This is in line with our Extended Public Works Programme, which seeks to create jobs for our people. The jobs created here at ISIbalo House have touched the lives of our people, especially the youth.”
Radebe appealed to StatsSA to modernise its operations, taking advantage of the advancement in technology in data collection to offer fast and more accurate statistics for the nation.
“What is demanded of Stats SA is a complete culture change to accommodate the advent of technology and data revolution combined. We have known throughout history that societies that fail to adapt to technological changes have become obsolete,” said Radebe.
“It is 22 years since the dawn of democracy in our country, Stats SA has become a household brand of official statistics. As Stats SA expands its footprint throughout the country, we should do so in such a manner that does not let success breed complacency.”
Stats SA is now completely based at the new structure after being previously accommodated in four separate buildings located across Pretoria.
The Green Building Council of South Africa awarded the ISIbalo House a four-star rating for its energy efficiency as well as the use of environment-friendly construction material and methods. To cut on water consumption, the structure has its own mechanisms of harvesting rain water-harvesting, borehole and water-purification system.