Council says sewage problems are its first priority

LEANDRA – Sewage problems were of great concern during the budget consultation meeting held at the Thusong Centre on Thursday, 21 May.

During the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality budget consultation draft of 2015/2016, Mr Freddy Nkambule said the existing sanitation infrastructure in Lebohang is in poor condition and assured residents that Leandra is allocated R18,5-m which will be used to fix and upgrade the sewerage.

He further said there are projects which are currently working on the sewerage in Ext 6 and Ext 7 in Lebohang.

“The municipality is committed in addressing bulk water and sanitation infrastructure, especially the overflowing systems,” he said.

It was also said that Govan Mbeki Municipality will engage private sectors and foreign investors to try and encourage them to invest in upgrading the waste water treatment works (WWTW).

The issue of lights was also another great concern for the residents of Leandra, Lebohang and Eendracht.

The council said they are aware of the lights problem and R19-m was allocated for the whole of Govan Mbeki Municipality.

It was mentioned that the plan is to install high mast poles rather than street lights because high mast poles cover a bigger area than street lights.

The municipality said they are planning to install three high mast poles in Leandra town.

The proposed tariff adjustment for electricity is 12.69%  compared to the current 8.13% as per NERSA guidelines and the municipality does not have control over it.

Water and sanitation adjustment is 13.5% compared to the current 7.39% as per Rand Water Notice of which the municipality does not have control.

Waste Management adjustment is 2.5% Refuse Removal, Town Cleansing is 1% and Landfill Site Rehabilitation is 2.5%.

Property rate adjustment is 6% for both residential and commercial.

Miscellaneous is an 6% increase.

The draft budget comprises R1.61 billion for operating expenditure and R1.65 million for capital investment programmes.

The total operating income budget is R1.65 billion, resulting in an operating surplus of R47 million.

Repairs and maintenance were allocated R66 million of which R15 million was allocated for road maintenance, R19 million for electricity, R19 million for water and sanitation, R8 million for other infrastructure, R3 million for community and R2 million for other assets.

The upgrading of the Kinross Waste Water Treatment Works of the eMbalenhle Waste Water Treatment Plant, the conversion of VIP toilets in Extensions 5, 6 and 10 in eMzinoni and Extension 25 in Kinross and the installation of boreholes in the rural area are the main projects in the draft budget with an allocation of nearly R56-m.

One of the residents requested that the council should also present last year’s budget and also show how many achievements they had reached.

Ms Ethel Nkosi, MMC for Technical Services, said it is difficult to compare last year’s budget with this year’s budget and encouraged residents to attend the IDP meetings where the previous budget is presented and the achievements are discussed.

Mr Dan Nhlapo, Kinross Councillor, thanked the residents for attending the budget consultation meeting.