2015 State of the town address

Themed United, we will move Newcastle forward, the draft budget for 2015/16 received a modest reception on Tuesday night.

Mayor, Afzul Rehman began his address with reference to the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter.

“The city of Newcastle has always taken its directives from the Presidents of the Republic in general and national Government in particular. We therefore echo his word when he asks us to rededicate ourselves, reinvest and more importantly go the extra mile to building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous South Africa.”

Although the decorations on stage represented the colours of the South African flag, a united Council was not present at the address, as the National Freedom Party (NFP) councillors had all vowed to boycott the event. “We are not going to be a part of this process, because there has been no public participation thus far in the budgeting process,” alleged Public Relations Councillor of the NFP, Sibusiso Lukhele.

These allegations did not deter the mayor from delivering his rendition of the R 1 590, 892, 402 operational budget, and R393-million capital budget.

Road and storm water:

With a proposed investment of R87.1-million, most funds will be divided between building new roads to the tune of R27.5-million, and R16-million in Madadeni and oSizweni respectively. A further R27-million was earmarked for the final phase of the Allen Street extension. A new R6-million road to Charlestown and another R6-million to complete the extensions and revamping of the Clifford Manana Bridge on Asiphephe Road and Marconi Drive have been budgeted.

“We have budgeted R14-million extra to reseal existing roads in our suburbs as well as our townships.”

Two pedestrian bridges in Wards 31 and Ward 6, plus R60 000 for speed humps throughout the city, were also on this list of items budgeted for.

The waste treatment plant of Madadeni, together with the Viljoen Park Bulk Water pump station and the Ingagne Water Treatment Plant are all scheduled for upgrades to cope with the growth of Newcastle, with projects receiving investments of R11-million, R8.5-million and R9.4-million respectively.

The need to upgrade the old water delivery systems to many suburbs in Newcastle meant R3-million was placed on the budget to start a pipe replacement project.

Electricity

“The municipality has also been resisting Eskom’s widespread load shedding, but this may not last for long. To assist with the plight of our residents and to heed calls from our communities, we are now making prepaid meters available as of July 1.” The meters will cost the municipality R2 600 each, but residents will only be charged a R1 300 installation fee, and will be able to purchase their prepaid electricity.

Parks, fire and waste:

The Johnson Blaauwbosch Cavan (JBC) area can expect a further investment in the form of an R8-million community hall, while R3.7-million has been budgeted to complete the Charlestown Hall. Two new play parks in Madadeni and oSizweni, plus three new play parks in Newcastle West, situated in Fernwood, Aviary Hill and Paterson Steet, are expected to cost a total of R6-million. Paterson Street will also receive an investment of R180 000 to fence the park off.

“I believe we are still not doing as much as we could be doing in terms of promoting sports development in Newcastle. This needs to be addressed urgently,” said the mayor.

With this in mind, sports facilities around Newcastle will see some well-deserved investment: R1.8-million has been budgeted for Arbor Park, R500 000 for Paradise, a further R1-million to upgrade netball courts in oSizweni, R2-million to upgrade the Mzamo Sports Field and R270 000 specified for the Newcastle Swimming Pool.

The development does not stop there, as the first mini-cricket indoor facility in Newcastle has been budgeted for at Fernwood Sports Grounds. A proposal was made to Council as well, to grant the Newcastle Golf Club a 100 per cent electricity rebate if the club would allow free usage of the course to developing sports associations, and players from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

The new landfill site is under investigation, but due to the cost of transporting refuse to the new site, a material recovery factory will also be established to ensure the municipality does not waste millions.

The boom gate systems at the taxi ranks across the town will be implemented this year, to help quell the constantly increasing taxi violence, and more CCTV cameras will be introduced to the CBD, suburbs and townships.

Housing:

The Siyahlala-la housing project will see a further investment of R10-million to complete the provision of bulk services, and the same will occur at the H39 housing project in Madadeni.

“The Surayaville and Fairleigh flats have also been given the go-ahead to have repairs done to them and this project should start within the next few months,” continued Cllr Rehman.

A further R4.5-million was budgeted to make more land available for residential use, and will be used to service sites in Aviary Hill and Lenville in Fairleigh.

Cllr Rehman was also very excited about the Commercial Residential Units (CRU) project for middle income residents, which will make upmarket rental apartments available to the community.

Newcastle Office Block:

“This has been one of the most painful experiences in the history of my career, although I firmly believe generations to come will thank us for the bold steps we have taken to bring this project to completion.”

The project needs R89-million more to be completed, presumably by September this year, and hopefully by the end of the year, municipal officials will be able to occupy the building.

“The budget for 2015/2016 is completely funded and no external loans will be taken. Council has taken a decision that 40 percent of our electricity must be sourced from alternative energy sources such as biofuels and solar electricity.”

Cllr Rehman travels to the United States next week to visit a town running entirely off electricity produced from a gasification programme at its landfill site.

Rates:

Rates will increase by a whopping 10 percent. This, according to the mayor, had to be done to offset the reduction in valuation of properties taken last year, as well as the rates reduction, which was unavoidable.

Water, sewerage and refuse will all be increased by 7 per cent, and electricity rates will be increased by 12.2 per cent as compared to Eskom’s increase of 14 per cent.

“This is an increase stipulated by National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).”

In closing, Cllr Rehman thanked all those people who had worked tirelessly in building the draft budget for the next year, and bid farewell to two municipal employees, namely SED for Corporate Services, Eugene Hauptfleisch, who retired on Tuesday evening, and the late Halima Mpofu from the mayor’s office.