The Govan Mbeki Municipality has begun its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) consultative process in preparation for the five-year cycle directly linked to the term of office of the new council.
The political leadership and management are meeting with the community with the objective of soliciting inputs for incorporation into the IDP to ensure planning is aligned to community needs and will thereafter prepare a budget accordingly.
It is important for community members to be part of these meetings in order to add their voices to the decision-making processes of the municipality.
The IDP is a plan for the municipality that gives an overall framework for development.
It is a very important exercise because the annual budget of the municipality is based on the IDP.
Mr Themba Phungwayo, IDP manager at the municipality told Ward 14 residents in eMbalenhle that the municipality in the past five years conducted the community consultation for the IDP and the community told the municipality what they wanted to see happening about service delivery, that included sewer spillages, unstable electricity and maintenance of roads.
Phungwayo said the municipality managed to procure a mobile transformer for the Bracken substation from Eskom and now some extensions are receiving 20MVA electricity from that mobile transformer.
He also said some roads are being gravelled and the municipality with the assistance of the provincial government are working together to deal with sewer spills in the township.
Phungwayo said the upgrading of bulk sewer line and pump station in Ext 5, eMbalenhle has resumed minimising sewer spillages.
Last year Cllr Nhlakanipho Zuma told the media that these sewer projects are worth more than R200-million and are currently being implemented within the Govan Mbeki municipal area.
Zuma also said the money is coming from the National Government and several public and private partnerships.
Phungwayo said the municipality is busy fixing the eMbalenhle offices that were burndown during the electricity protest last year for the community to get services near them.
