Metro not sure when the Rooiwal water treatment plant will be operational
“There are current investigations as to how that was happening, and now that the matter has been reported the modus operandi will change,” says MMC for utility and regional operations.
The Tshwane metro is still unsure when the Rooiwal water treatment plant would be operational despite 12 years of repairs.
MMC for utilities and regional operations Themba Fosi told Rekord that it was impossible for the municipality to put a time frame as to when the plant would be operational.
“The first phase of the plant has been done and the second phase requires R2.6-billion.
“It is a process, even if we can get a trillion [rand] now, we won’t be able to solve the issue of Rooiwal as in yesterday,” Fosi said.
He said the situation was too complex to be fixed quickly, adding that land needed to be procured in order to deal with the plant.
The MMC continued to say progress had been made on the plant with the little money the municipality had.
“At the moment we don’t have time frames on when the plant would be finished.
“We really can’t commit to that while we don’t have R2.6-billion in our pocket. We have sought intervention from the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu.”
Fosi said the matter can no longer be treated as a Tshwane issue hence the municipality has requested the matter to be handled as a national disaster.
PRIORITISE THE ROOIWAL PLANT
On the question of why the metro took this long to prioritise the Rooiwal plant, he said the matter had long been taken seriously as former mayor Solly Msimanga spearheaded the project before he was removed.
“Immediately after Msimanga was removed, we were messed up and there was political instability up until now.
I am hoping Cilliers will be stable and see the project through but he’s very clear that he wants to sort out the Rooiwal project.”
At the same time, Temba resident Ofentse Mokoena said as residents they were forced to buy water delivered by municipality tankers.
“We are struggling; we are obliged to buy water, and even the tankers, when they arrive, they charge us to fill our buckets.
We are forced to chain our taps as the children could drink the water and get sick,” Mokoena said.
Fosi said the municipality was made aware that employees were selling water to residents.
He added that the matter was receiving urgent attention.
“There are current investigations as to how that was happening, and now that the matter has been reported, the modus operandi will change.
“We have allocated three days a week for water delivery, and the contractors are working closely with councillors,” Fosi added.
He also said “thugs” were being used to destabilise the delivery of water in order to put the blame squarely on the municipality.
ALSO READ: Metro tackles Rooiwal water plant problems
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