R964.8 million needed to address Grahamstown's water woes

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Cooperative Governance Minister, Lechesa Tsenoli, says a total of R964.8 million will be required to address Grahamstown's water woes.

Replying to questions in parliament, he said more than R900-million still needs to be secured.

He says that according to the Makana Municipality a number of short-term steps have already been taken and these include adjusting the municipality’s operating and capital budgets “to attend to urgent matters.

These included adjusting the municipality’s operating and capital budgets “to attend to immediate activities” such as repairs to leaks and stabilising the water
supply.
In addition, the municipality has signed a five-year agreement with Amatola

Water for the operation and maintenance of bulk water supply and had received R4 million from the Department of Water Affairs for immediate projects such as repairing major leaks.

A further R3 million had come from the Cacadu District Municipality towards the costs involved in purchasing a water pump and motor for the Howieson’s
Poort Dam.

As part of the adjustment to the capital budget the municipality had ordered the pump and motor for the dam and the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works at the end of September
Tsenoli said a long-term plan did exist and business plans for all sectors – water, electricity and sanitation - had been developed with projects prioritised for implementation.

He said the process of developing an Infrastructure Master Plan for the Greater Makana Municipality was also underway that will take into consideration future developments at Rhodes
University as well as business and industrial developments.

Tsenoli said the municipality had applied for funding from a number of
sources, including the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Eastern Cape, Cacadu DM, Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Committee and other potential
donors for the proposed projects across all sectors.

He said that R8.73 million was required in the immediate term and a further R49.11 million in the short term of which R11.22 million had not yet been secured.

In the medium term, he said, an amount of R220.88 million was required of which R205.58 million had yet to be secured.
In the long-term to address all the challenges, Tsenoli said R461.5 million was required of which nothing had been secured as yet.

(Source: Metro Minute to subscribe mail metminutes@iafrica.com)