The municipality has embarked on a R66 million project to improve water infrastructure, set to benefit 95 000 residents in 19 000 households.
The municipality has embarked on a R66 million project to improve water infrastructure, set to benefit 95 000 residents in 19 000 households.
Technical and infrastructural services director Thembinkosi Myalato said the James Kleyhnans Project will include “construction of a 450mm diameter water pipeline in parallel with the existing 300mm diameter water line; augmentation of the clean water pumps and construction of an additional water reservoir”.
Myalato told Grocott's Mail last week that the municipality has borrowed R50m from the Development Bank of South Africa to supplement the municipal budget's R16m to fund these improvements.
“Based on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant allocations, clearly the grant funding levels are extremely inadequate to meet the infrastructure development needs of Makana,” he said.
“Furthermore, the demand for better services is ever growing. The municipality had to source for additional funding from other sources.”
According to the municipality, the loan is repayable over 20 years and it has been agreed that R30m of the loan will be paid back with 6.75% interest and 11.79% interest will be paid on the remaining R20m.
Over the years, Grocott’s Mail has reported on countless problems with water services in the municipality, including interrupted availability in some areas including Grahamstown, Riebeeck East, Salem and Alicedale.
The water quality has also been questioned by experts, like senior researcher at Rhodes University’s ichthyology department, Martin Davies, who was quoted saying that our water supply had 1 300 times the amount of aluminium recommended for drinking in 2006.
The municipality has acknowledged that its infrastructure has much room for improvement. “Generally most of the infrastructure has outlived its designed service life and requires massive funding for upgrading and reconstruction,” Myalato said. “The city is 200 years old; therefore its infrastructure has passed its lifespan”.
