City heralds start of ‘boom’ phase
uMhlathuze City Mayor Mduduzi Mhlongo will present his debut State of the City Address at eSikhaleni on Saturday.
THE blueprint for economic growth and job creation targeting mainly the youth will form the crux of City Mayor Mduduzi Mhlongo’s first State of the City Address in eSikhaleni this Saturday.
Taking place at the uMfolozi TVET College sports fields at eSikhaleni at 9am, the new mayor is expected to give an account to uMhlathuze ratepayers on the status of service delivery while unveiling development and transformation plans for the City.
And residents will be eager to assess the report card, which saw the City roll out 95% of electricity supply in urban areas by 2015 with rural areas supplied directly by Eskom.
‘The City has achieved 94% household water provision and has a 4.35% backlog in all urban and rural communities,’ said Cllr Mhlongo.
‘The drought affecting the region continues to be a challenge as well as illegal connections and pipe bursts. About 81% of our communities have access to sanitation. Since 2012, 3390 VIP toilets have been constructed and in use. The City is making every effort to reduce the backlog.’
Development of rural communities is further being prioritised with the construction of more than 600 kilometres of access roads.
‘More yellow plant will be procured in the next financial year to strengthen the maintenance of these roads. Our Local Economic Development Strategy implementation phases should talk to sustainable projects that will create business opportunities for township residents. We are driving a tourism strategy that is biased to township tourism where domestic and national tourists get to know of our history, way of life and spend money in rural areas by buying products like shisanyama, etc,’ Cllr Mhlongo said.
The mayor said the Port of Richards Bay and ocean economy as a whole should create investments for the City comparable with other port cities throughout the globe.
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