R60-million tender approved for Centurion Lake clean-up

A R60-million tender has been approved for the Centurion Lake clean-up project, which will run over the next two years.

Tshwane utility services and regional operations MMC Phillip Nel said development of the lake has not been halted.

He confirmed on Monday that the rehabilitation of the existing lake area, which is currently in a poor condition, was indeed going ahead.

Nel said the tender was delayed because it could not be finalised during the recent period of the municipality being under administration, but has now been approved.

“This maintenance tender deals mainly with desilting the lake area, by forming the lake channel into two clear open channels to ensure that the water flow will remain high.”

He said systems such as litter traps will be installed to reduce the waste that enters the lake.

“Especially during heavy rainfall, we have a lot of plastic and other kinds of litter coming downstream.

“Some work on the design is also planned to reduce the silt that reaches the lake,” Nel said.

Nel said the lake area will remain accessible for residents during the period of work done to the lake.

“The project includes rehabilitating the Hennops River banks as well. The erosion upstream, even before it lands up in Pretoria territory, causes a lot of sand to wash down. We would like to prevent that from happening in future in the lake area.”