City on track with Eldos power station
The Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Cllr Mpho Moerane, and City Power management conducted a site inspection and walkabout at the Eldorado Park substation.
The Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Cllr Mpho Moerane, and City Power management conducted a site inspection and walkabout at the Eldorado Park substation.
This visit comes after work began three weeks ago of rebuilding the new substation for the community.
City Power chairperson Lindiwe Maseko, CEO Mongezi Ntsokolo, and City Power executives were all present during the visit.
A resident and the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) on the project Keith Duarte shared: “The Eldorado Park substation is a project that was initiated in 2015 and was supposed to be complete by 2018 but due to corruption it was stopped. We are currently relying on a dilapidated power station to provide power to Eldorado Park, Kliptown, Klipspruit, Devland, Nancefield, and part of Freedom Park.”
[also read] – Eldorado Park substation upgrade project resumes
According to Duarte, the entire project was restarted and residents had to apply for available appointments last year.
“We cannot have people and organisations who want to stop progress in our communities and hijack projects to enrich themselves. When we fight in the struggle, we need to stand together and we have to put the community first. I want to thank the intervention of MMC Mpho Moerane and the councillors who are involved in allowing this project to go ahead. In a year, we would like to switch on that power and become independent from the Orlando Power station,” said Duarte.
The MMC called on the community of Eldorado Park to take ownership of the new substation and ensure that the work is completed.
With over fifty years of service, the substation is overloaded and is strained due to the community growing and more electricity connections being made.
According to City Power, the new Eldorado Park substation will have four 45 MVA transformers, new switching and protection technology equipment, when fully built.
City Power CEO Ntsokolo said the new technology that will be installed will ensure that City Power responds quicker to outages through remote monitoring.
“Extra capacity that comes with the new substation will enable us to connect new customers and to cater for growing customer needs. The more we delay the project, the more escalations in cost, and the more interruptions. We commit to the MMC and the chairperson that we will do our best to produce a quality product within time and budget,” added Ntsokolo.
The total value for constructing the new substation this financial year is estimated at R15m, the amount will cover most of the civil work and protection designs. Additional budget for construction will be allocated in the upcoming financial year starting in July.
“I’m happy there is progress on the work here. The community must be on board and work with us. When we work together with the community, we will do more. We have ironed out the issues with the Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and the rest of the contractors. My door is open for any disputes that may arise,” said MMC Moerane.
The substation is expected to be completed by the end of June 2022.
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