ETHEKWINI Municipality is calling on the public to submit their comments on the Annual Report for the 2014/15 financial year.
The city has hosted a series of meetings with select focus groups throughout February to gauge opinions. Another meeting is planned with civil society at the Durban City Hall on Friday, 4 March at 10am. All interested parties are invited to attend.
The city has performed well over the past financial year and has made many advances in service delivery. An achievement the City is proud of is the clean audit report that was achieved for the first time, for the 2014/15 financial year.
eThekwini Mayor, James Nxumalo, said: “We have delivered as a city because of our commitment to good governance and effective performance management systems. The city has acted decisively, methodically and strategically to be at the heart of improving people’s lives. Our service delivery record gives hope for the future economic prosperity of our communities and this is something we will continually strive to achieve.”
Highlights of the annual report included that the city had delivered 5 516 new houses and 144 family units. Potable water was delivered to 92 percent of residents, with only 15.83 percent of informal housing falling below the minimum requirements of water service delivery levels. This was mainly due to the containerised ablution blocks that supplied life-giving water in informal settlements. The city also supplied electricity to 730 000 customers and a weekly refuse removal service was provided to 945 910 households.
Nxumalo said the city leadership would remain focused on job creation to eradicate poverty and would continue to provide practical solutions to address challenges.
“We are committed to building a sustainable city for future generations based on infrastructure-led growth, unlocking investment, economic development and job creation. Investments include more than 65 flagship projects across the city, ranging from manufacturing, construction, real estate, tourism, information communication technology, agriculture, maritime and logistics. The projects are expected to create about 680 000 permanent long-term jobs with the potential revenue of about R9-billion for the city,” he said.
The public is invited to comment on the Annual Report, which is available for viewing at www.durban.gov.za, at City Hall, municipal libraries and at Sizakala Centres. Comments received during this process will be considered in the drafting of the new Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget in the coming years.
Comments can also be sent to Gonie Dorasamy at gonie.dorasamy@durban.gov.za or by calling 031 322 7205 or faxing 031 311 4209.
