Since this R64-million waste water treatment plant was officially handed over to Emalaheni Local Municipality in August 2011 it hasn’t worked a day.
And all that had to be done was the connection of a sewer pumping main from Ga-Nala to Thubelihle, which was not constructed because it was not forming part of initial scope of work.
Today the plant bears raw scars of vandalism. Thieves stole the concrete walls that surrounded the plant and ransacked the mechanical and electrical components.
In 2013 the municipality was in the process of appointing a contractor before end of July 2013, and it was expected that the plant would be up and running by the end of December the same year, when the construction of the pumping main would have been completed.
The clock ticked, two years down the line and the municipality is singing the same tune,
“The Thubelihle Waste Water Treatment Plant will be fixed. We need to construct the pumping main. The projected costs will be around R20-million.”
This waste treatment plant was constructed in 2009/2010 financial year with the intension to decommission the Ga-Nala waste treatment plant and convert it to a pump station, because the plant was running above its design capacity. The plant’s mechanical and electrical components were outdated, it was situated on private land, there was not enough space for expansion and it was constructed within the flood line.
“This waste water plant became an embarrassment to the municipality. They can’t pay Eskom the millions they owe the entity, but it seems they have millions to flaunt around to repair a waste water plant that never worked a day,” a resident of Ga-Nala, who wishes to stay anonymous, said.
