By LUCAS NOWICKI
Several state agencies are being drawn into an investigation of the chronically delayed upgrades at the James Kleyhans Water Treatment Works.
Fikile Xasa, chair of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), which recently conducted an oversight visit at the Makana Municipality, said COGTA was “engaging” the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the anti-corruption Special Investigation Unit (SIU) on the matter.
Xasa said the portfolio committee also hopes to convene a meeting with the implementing agent, Amathole Water, and the Makana Municipality on 20 October to determine what needs to be done.
The contractor for the upgrades, Mamlambo Construction, went into liquidation in June 2022. The municipality had initially expected the upgrades to be completed in 2017, but this has since been pushed back to June 2023, according to Nosisa Sogayise, spokesperson for Amatola Water, the implementing agent for the project.
If phase 2 of the upgrade is ever completed, it will increase the James Kleynhans Treatment Works pumping capacity from around ten megalitres per day to 20 megalitres. Makhanda’s daily demand is currently approximately 20 megalitres, according to the city’s water crisis page.
The water treatment works receive water from the Orange-Fish River scheme. Once the upgrade is completed, it could effectively end Makana’s water crisis.
Sogayise said Amatola Water had decided to terminate Mamlambo’s contract in June due to “poor performance”. During this process, it also found out the company was liquidating and faced severe financial challenges.
Sogayise said that phase two of the upgrade was 82% complete when it was abandoned. By then, R164 million of the budgeted R414 million had been spent.
Amatola Water is expected to advertise the tender to complete the upgrade on Thursday, 6 October, said Sogayise.
Meanwhile, the COGTA portfolio committee members inspected the treatment works and were told that the upgrade’s initial cost of R50 million had ballooned to R237 million. But Sogayise said the new projected total was R414 million, to be funded through a Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG).
The Makana Residents Association (MRA) released a report last year which detailed the multiple failures and costs of these upgrades.
Tim Bull, MRA secretary, told GroundUp that the recent project delays were “just the latest setback after years of broken promises since the initial deadline in 2017 wasn’t achieved. Each time this happens, it adds to the bill so that the total cost has soared since the initial estimate.”
Bull said the water cuts “go far beyond inconvenience for residents and businesses” as people have to spend thousands of rands on water tanks and pumps, with some residents and businesses choosing to leave the town.
This article was first published by GroundUp.org.za
