POLOKWANE – Anglo Platinum has invested in a project worth R80 million to renovate a municipal sewage plant in the Ladine area.
The project started in December last year, and Anglo Platinum is busy with preliminary investigations and designs at the sewage plant.
The Polokwane mayor, Freddy Greaver said in a radio interview recently that the current waste system could not cope with the growth of the city.
According to Greaver, the sewage plant retrieved 3ml (300 000 litres) of waste per day.
The Polokwane Municipality confirmed that with the new renovations, the sewage plant would be able to retrieve a capacity of 6ml (600 000 litres) of waste per day.
This project comes after Review’s report in October about an unbearable stench that was hanging over the Ladine area, allegedly coming from a municipal sewage plant in the area.
Businesses owners in the area complained that the horrible smell was bad for their image and affected their businesses negatively as clients were greeted by the terrible stench when they entered the area.
The municipality explained that the sewage plant suffered an incident where one of the anaerobic digesters’ electrical motors burst and resulted in a reduced sludge-holding capacity, which might have resulted in the nauseating smell.
Asked when the Anglo Platinum project would be completed, municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene explained: “Since it is still in the preliminary investigation and design phase, it is not yet clear how long it will take for the construction to be completed”.
Chuene said this was not the first project that Anglo Platinum took on with the municipality.
In this instance, Anglo would like to use the treated effluent to do their mining operation activities instead of them using potable water, Chuene said.
