Durban — EThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has announced that a budget of more than R250 million has been allocated to repair sewer infrastructure.
Kaunda said that during the last media engagement last month, he indicated that the municipality is finalising the procurement process for the repair of our sanitation infrastructure that was damaged by the floods.
“We are pleased to report that the municipality has finalised this process and a budget of over R250m has been set aside to repair sewer infrastructure. For instance, a contractor has already started to repair Ohlange Sewer Pump Station which is responsible for the contamination of Ohlange River and uMhlanga Beach. Work is also under way to procure additional pumps and generators, particularly to pump stations located along the coast,” Kaunda said.
“We also want to indicate that contractors have been appointed to fix sewer pipes that were damaged by the floods in all four regions of the municipality. These repairs include all pipework responsible for bringing the sewerage to various treatment works.”
“We are confident that this repair work will be finalised before the festive season because we want our residents and visitors to have a joyous and memorable summer holiday,” Kaunda added.
Last month, Kaunda said that repairs had already begun and were ongoing at water and sanitation facilities.
Referring to the damage to infrastructure caused by the floods, Kaunda said they were all aware they came from a situation from a dispensation where most of the people were not catered for services in this country.
“Our spatial development plans were not catering for the majority of people. So as a result, there has been a huge backlog to have new capital projects zooming to the areas to put sewer lines, to put water pipes so that on its own needed resources,” Kaunda said.
“As a result, when you apply that strategy to ensure that you also advance services to those who have not been accessing services, it then affected the maintenance and proper maintenance of the infrastructure.
“We accept that as a shortcoming that, while we advance and put through infrastructure, we are supposed to cater for maintenance so that our infrastructure is maintained.
“But now that we’ve identified those weaknesses, the plan has been put in place to rectify that, but we know it is going to cost us a lot, billions of rand. Billions of rand to put our infrastructure back to the state where it’s supposed to be,” Kaunda said.
Daily News