Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink says the City will propose to allocate R1 billion for electricity and water infrastructure in its budget for the 2023/24 financial year.
Brink was delivering the state of the capital address on Thursday and said the amount would increase over the years, as and when the City improved its long-term planning ability.
Investments
“We are also prioritising replacing aged water infrastructure as we have invested R165 million on water demand and water loss management projects with 12,4 km of old asbestos cement water pipes replaced to date in several areas.”
“The Danish are providing R33 million in funding aimed at enhancing our internal capacity to reduce water losses, manage our waste water treatment works better, explore own resource opportunities and develop a water-security strategy,” he said.
Reduce dependence on Eskom
The mayor also said it was time to be realistic in order to build a lucrative city.
“If we want to build a capital city that works for all its people, one where no one is left behind, then we must first get real.
“We must get real about our finances, our infrastructure, the state of basic service delivery, the insecurity of our assets and the performance of our staff,” he said.
Brink also said that it was imperative that Tshwane reduced its dependence on Eskom and promised that proposals would be devised before the end of the year to the market for the use of the Rooiwal Power Station.
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Proposals
“The request for proposals will be followed by a public participation process and an agreement with private partners in the next year, which will unlock the electricity-generating capacity at Rooiwal and reduce the burden of load-shedding on our communities.”
“Mitigating and eventually ending load-shedding will be our most important priority. At the same time, we have to do what we can to stabilise our own electricity distribution network to reduce the number of electricity and other service outages suffered by residents.
“Brink reiterated that he was fully committed towards building a capital city that works for all its people,” said Brink
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