ONE of the roads riddled with major water pipe leaks in Woodlands has received a huge boost after eThekwini Municipality approved R1.5m for a water pipe replacement.

Fairbridge Road residents have been complaining to the City about constant water leaks which caused potholes on the road.

Ward 64 councillor Norman Gilbert said the allocation of the funds for urgent pipe replacement projects identified across the municipality could no longer be delayed.

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During his presentation at the council Gilbert said: “Our residents cannot wait, and these funds must reach the ground so that contractors can begin the work that is so desperately needed. We are here today, two months into the fiscal year, attempting to fix a budget that should have been properly scoped and planned from the start. Relying on generic, catch-all “block sum” allocations during the annual budget approval only to scramble to unbundle them is a clear symptom of inadequate project planning and slow budget execution,” said Gilbert.

He said eThekwini’s Non-Revenue Water loss has reached a staggering cost of R181.62m monthly to the ratepayers.

“We must acknowledge that our service standards are in decline. It is reported that 93% of burst pipes are isolated within 24 hours, the reality on the ground however is that only 46% of operational leaks are actually attended to within that same timeframe,” he said.

He added that the community needs a budget based on the full, assessed infrastructure needs from the outset.

“We demand that the Executive Director: Technical Services submit monthly progress and expenditure reports on these 24 relay projects to the Trading Services Committee. We need to ensure that this money translates into actual infrastructure delivery, not more administrative delays,” he added.

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