The Nelson Mandela Bay Council will now meet every seven days as required by legislation, until it passes the 2012/13 Budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
On Wednesday, Council simply noted the budget and IDP that must still be refined to meet National Treasury requirements that it should be “cash-backed.
The budget has been slashed by R196 million to achieve this, but must still be submitted to Treasury.
Treasury also has yet to approve the roll-over of funds from a number of conditional grants, including that for integrated public transport and the money that will be used for the development of Njoli Square, before the budget can be passed.
Meanwhile, five projects have been identified in Nelson Mandela Bay worth just under R5.5 billion as part of the Strategic Integrated Project 7 (SIP7) that focuses on roll out of initiatives associated with housing delivery as part of Government’s National Infrastructure Plan.
The areas associated with housing delivery are: spatial planning, water, sanitation, roads, storm water and transport.
SIP7 targets the eight metros and four other large cities and was launched by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Richard Baloyi earlier this month.
Baloyi said at the time that SIP7 aimed to strategically use infrastructure to support urban development, overcome spatial apartheid, build integrated and sustainable communities (economic, residential and social) reduce commuting costs and time, and promote green urban development.
A report to the Infrastructure, Engineering and Energy Committee that meets on Tuesday, says that various projects were identified for each of the cities and those identified for Nelson Mandela Bay were:
*R484 million for waste water treatment and the environment
*R480 million for roads and storm water
*R437 million for cycle paths
*R440 million for economic development, and
*R3.6 billion for the bucket system
The report states that these projects were identified based on the initial submission by the NMBM and further engagement will be conducted on other projects, adding that it is important that the Metro has the best information available” ready in preparation for this.
It adds that specific reference was made to the development of a Transport Plan to support human settlement development.
The report says that the Passenger Rail Transport Agency of South Africa (PRASA) has identified the rail link between Port Elizabeth and Motherwell as one of its projects.
The link will cost R1.5 billion.
(Source: Metro Minute - to subscribe mail metminutes@iafrica.com)
