The new partnership with Makana Municipality and Raseborg Municipality in Finland hopes to improve housing, water shortage and toilet facilities.
The new partnership with Makana Municipality and Raseborg Municipality in Finland hopes to improve housing, water shortage and toilet facilities.
The ink on the friendship and co-operation agreement between the municipalities has hardly dried and a work plan and budget are already drawn up, with the aim of having Makana live up to its slogan as a ‘great place to be’.
The three-year co-operation plan, supported by the South African Embassy, began on the basis that both municipalities are festival towns. The main areas of co-operation are education, culture and municipal services.
Highlights in the plan include
· Research in water projects, waste-water recycling and sanitation;
· Improving the local curriculum and school administration systems
· Working visits, seminars and workshops, to promote knowledge exchange.
Local Economic Development Director, Riana Meiring, will attend the Basic Course of the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme from 29 August – 5 September 2011.
Infrastructure Development Portfolio Committee councillor Nomhle Gaga and Water and Sewerage Manager, Mongesi Mabece, will attend working sessions on water management, in Finland, during the same period.
A report from the Municipal Manager's office states that Makana will foot the bill for subsistence and local travel, amounting to R120 a day for each person.
An email from Finnish coordinator, Borje Mattsson, said that the working sessions would be "very businesslike with clear issues. Our main issue will be the water and waste part," Mattsson wrote.
The report further stated, "One of the central priorities in the co-operation is the question of municipal infrastructure, waste water and sanitation." It added that realistic studies would be done to establish how these services could be implemented efficiently and economically.
"The co-operation does not entail large investment costs," said Mattsson.
The report stipulates that the only purchases will be technology for water management equipment, and for virtual communication between the two municipalities.
The objectives of co-operation are in line with Makana Municipality's five key performance areas, namely, basic services delivery, local economic development, social services, financial viability and management.
The partnership between the two municipalities was approved in October 2010, when delegates from Raseborg were in Grahamstown to conclude the agreement.
They spent their time visiting places of interest in the wider Makana area. In an exchange visit, a municipal delegation made up of Municipal Manager Ntombi Baart, Councillor Julia Wells and Local Economic Development Director, Riana Meiring, flew to Raseborg in November, at the expense of the Raseborg municipality.
