Central SA
Sol Plaatje municipality finally attends to old water infrastructure─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 08:43 Thu, 06 Apr 2023
At least R2 billion will be spent to deal with water infrastructure challenges at the Kimberley-based Sol Plaatje municipality in the Northern Cape.
The Mayor of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Kagisho Sonyoni, announced this in a statement.
In recent years, the municipality has experienced unprecedented water interruptions as a result of old infrastructure. Sonyoni said over the years it became evident that the municipal budget was inadequate to properly maintain, repair or refurbish the aged water infrastructure. He added that over the past two years, the municipality has been pursuing the identification and sourcing of additional funding to address challenges of aged water infrastructure which needs to be upgraded to address ongoing water disruptions and improve water quality.
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“Many consumers may have lost hope that the water interruptions in SPLM will ever be resolved, but in January 2023 our efforts as the Municipality were rewarded when we were notified by National Treasury that our application for funding through their Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) funding was approved. This approval means that a significant amount of funding (in excess of R 2 billion) will be made available by the National Treasury and the Department of Water Affairs over the next 5 years to execute the Sol Plaatje Bulk Infrastructure Refurbishment Programme (SPBIRP). This is very good news to all our consumers,” Sonyoni stated.
Sonyoni explained that the municipality will start by refurbishing the Vaal River Abstraction Point at Riverton, where two water treatment plants treat the raw water obtained from the Vaal River and pump treated water via large-diameter pipelines to the Newton reservoir site. From the Newton Reservoirs, the treated water is distributed through a network of reticulation pipes, pressure-reducing valves and meters to consumers. Sonyoni also stated that during the repair and refurbishment process, planned water supply interruptions will continue to take place.
“These interruptions will vary in duration and frequency and will be communicated formally to all consumers. As the interruptions will be well planned, the duration and frequency will be minimised at all costs,” he said.
Sonyoni expressed his excitement about finally having an opportunity to make the water supply disruptions and problems previously experienced, a thing of the past.
