Makana municipality has done an about-turn on a plan to use disaster funding to fix broken water and sewerage infrastructure, as raw sewage continues to spill into local waterways.
Makana municipality has done an about-turn on a plan to use disaster funding to fix broken water and sewerage infrastructure, as raw sewage continues to spill into local waterways.
The municipality has missed the three-month deadline for spending millions given to them by the National Disaster Management Centre to fix infrastructure damaged during last year's floods.
Makana received R2.7 million after the October floods in which electricity, water and sewerage infrastructure were damaged.
Because it was emergency funding, the stipulation was that it be spent within three months.
Makana received the funds in January, but has spent only 50% of the grant, according to Technical and Infrastructure services Director Thembinkosi Myalato.
In January Myalato told Grocott's Mail they had received R 2.7 million for post-flood infrastructure repairs. He said they would use the funds to fix the Belmont Valley sewage ponds and the Howieson's Poort dam filters.
At the time Myalato emphasised that the funding was conditional on the projects being carried out within three months.
Yesterday, however, Myalato said the disaster grant was no longer earmarked for the water and sewage projects.
"R2.4 million will be used to repair and reconstruct the electricity overhead lines and R384 000 will be used to fix the Lingelihle pump," Myalato told Grocott's Mail yesterday.
"The team from the disaster centre came to do an audit and they approved the funds to be used for these two projects."
Myalato said engineering company Bigen Africa was currently carrying out the repairs.
"We sent a report on medium- and long-term damage to the infrastructure. The rest of the funds will be spent by the end of this month."
During an in interview in January, Myalato told Grocott's Mail "There is an engineer already doing the assessment at the Belmont Valley Ponds and we will advertise next week for service providers so that they can start with the repairs."
He said at the time that the municipality planned to spend R1.4m on the Belmont Valley ponds and R1.3m on fixing the Howieson's Poort Dam filters.
"We have also applied for funding to repair the long-term damage like potholes, electricity lines, houses and other areas affected by last year's disaster," he said earlier this year.
Myalato said this week that the water and sewage repairs had not been approved by the National Disaster Management Centre.
They had instead approved the use of the grant to repair electricity infrastructure.
In April Grocott's Mail reported on a call from councillors for the district municipality's disaster relief package to be used to fix a broken sewerage line that has made life hell for residents in De Villiers Close in Sunnyside, south of Beaufort Street, and Belmont Valley.
A pump station and main sewerage line near the houses there were damaged in the October floods and raw sewage has been running across the road, into the Bloukrans River.
The river, into which much of the city's stormwater network drains, flows through farms in Belmont Valley and then on into the Kowie River, which flows through prime land in Port Alfred.
In addition, experts have warned that E. coli levels in treated water being discharged from the Belmont Valley Waste Water Treatment Plant into the Bloukrans River make it unsafe for human contact.
Cacadu District Municipality had given Makana R3 million towards repairing damage from the October floods.
Shortly after last year's floods, Technical Services Portfolio Chairperson Nomhle Gaga said damage was estimated at R158 million or more.
Days of heavy rains had caused extensive damage to homes, roads and electricity and water infrastructure.
