The contractor to build sewer reticulation in the Ward 11 area of Acton Homes in Bergville was introduced to the community on Thursday. This was done by uThukela District Municipality Exco member and chairperson for the Water & Technical Services Portfolio Committee Cllr MV Khumalo, accompanied by manager in the Mayoral Office Mr L Mthonti and Councillor Sgubudu from Okhahlamba Local Municipality.
During his welcome remarks, Cllr Sgubudu acknowledged the plight of the people living in the area. He said the levels of unemployment are very high and that the population has increased immensely over the past few years.
“People in this area are generally poor, but government is nevertheless doing all it can to push back the frontiers of poverty. We welcome the project that is going to be introduced today and also hope that through it, people will benefit a lot,” said Cllr Sgubudu.
Cllr Khumalo gave a brief background about the Cabinet visit in Okhahlamba a few months ago. He told the audience that there were some backlogs that were picked up by members of the Cabinet that needed urgent interventions.
“Following the visit, we have since installed water-borne sanitation in Bergville and rid the town of its septic tank system. We have also built the Bergville Waste Water Treatment Plant to purify water. We are here today to introduce a contractor who is going to build sewer reticulation in the area,” Cllr Khumalo explained.
He then encouraged the community to work together with the municipality in order for the project to be successful. He mentioned that he will be very disappointed if, for some reason, the contractor is stopped by community members from doing its job, as this could have a negative impact when funds are withdrawn. Cllr Khumalo also said that uThukela has invested a lot of money in this project alone.
The contractor that will undertake the project is Shula Construction. The source of funding is the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), with an amount of over R50 million having been allocated.
The whole town of Bergville is expected to benefit from this project.
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