Seshego waterworks to be completed in 3 months
Seshego residents' ongoing struggle with intermittent water supply may soon come to an end as the Seshego Water Treatment Works is set to be completed in three months.
POLOKWANE- The long-awaited completion of the Seshego Water Treatment Works is set for three months from May, city Mayor, John Mpe confirmed.
The project stood at 90% completion by May 11.
Mpe said the multi-million rand project, on which progress resumed on April 14, had been delayed because of various reasons, including the contractor requesting a variation order that is 20% above the permissible amount as per municipal policy, which council could not approve of through normal processes, Mpe said.
On top of that, the municipality found that the previous administration had not received approval from the Water and Sanitation Department to run the project, and therefore the current administration’s request to fund the project did not meet the required standards.
The previous budget was exhausted due to cost escalations on material and mechanical systems, following prices inflated due to the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the world economy, and subsequently South Africa.
“The previous municipal administration had used money from a regional water treatment plant budgetary allocation, reportedly due to pressure to perform by community members even without an understanding of municipal finances,” Mpe says.
For years, residents have struggled with intermittent water supply, with residing in high lying areas having to carry containers to fetch water from temporary relief tanks provided by the municipality.
Residents from the area have protest a number of times to bring their plight to the relevant authorities, at some point threatening to camp outside the municipal offices.
In February, Mpe told BONUS that an additional cash injection of R48m into the project was approved in a special council meeting after years of inconsistency in the supply of clean and drinkable water.
At the time, the contractor was busy with the remobilisation process for re-establishment, that would supposedly have taken three months to re-commission. Assurance could also not be given by the contractor that the works would have been completed.
On May 11, however, the mayor confirmed that the municipality had approached court to ensure the work gets done.
The court ordered in the municipality’s favour and completing mechanical and electrical components is all that is left on the scope of the project.
“Once completed, the works will supply 10 mega litre of water to the township and its immediate outskirts,” the mayor confirmed.
