City outlines electricity and water solutions
The City says they have found solutions on how to deal with electricity scarcity and water outages.
THE eThekwini Municipality held a joint media briefing with provincial government to outline their plans for the city, particularly electricity and water, after the state of the province address.
The City says it has made plans to deal with power outages and water cut-offs. “Through the programme of upgrading our electricity infrastructure to deal with power outages, we have started a process of procuring renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs). We are confident that this initiative will go a long way in building an energy-secured city,” said eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
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The mayor further stated that the City has found ways to provide adequate water supply. ”To improve water supply in the municipality, we have taken a bold decision to invest over R2 billion annually to upgrade our water and sanitation infrastructure. Currently, contractors are on the ground to repair 10 wastewater treatment plants that handle over 90% of the total wastewater generated by the eThekwini Metro,” added Kaunda.
The municipality said it prides itself on being one of the few municipalities that does not owe Eskom, and they have received clean audits consecutively. “We are one of the few metros in the country that does not owe Eskom. We also continue to honour our financial obligations with regard to bulk purchases from uMgeni-uThukela Water.
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Despite the ongoing illegal industrial action and the severe damage that was caused by the recent floods to our infrastructure, we are a city at work. We want to assure you that eThekwini Municipality remains stable, functional and financially sustainable. For the past five years, this municipality has been receiving unqualified audit opinions. Our collection rate continues to be above 95% which is within the National Treasury norm,” said Kaunda.
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