IN THE NEWS Dept declares no mercy in sewage war
THE NORTHERN Cape Department of Environment and Nature Conservation has warned that it will show no mercy to municipalities that subject residents to overflowing sewage.
The MEC for Environment and Nature Conservation, Pauline Williams, said during her department’s budget vote yesterday that a sewage monitoring project would be rolled out in the next quarter.
“The project is aimed at monitoring sewage discharges/disposal hot spots. This will be done as part of the Compliance Promotion initiatives, addressing waste management problems prior to enforcement action being undertaken. The people in the townships, especially the RDP sections of our townships, are subjected to inhumane conditions, most of which are related to sewage overflow and waste collection. We are going to come down hard on municipalities and this time we will have no mercy.”
The programme is specifically focused on the Sol Plaatje Municipality and a budget of R300 000 has been set aside for this project.
Williams meanwhile pointed out that her department’s Greenest/ Cleanest Municipality Competition did not take place last year due to lack of interest by municipalities.
“I wish to urge Ga Segonyana and Sol Plaatje municipalities to take part in this competition because they may win big prizes that can help them deal with waste challenges they are seemingly unable to handle,” she stated. The prize money is R170 000.
Among the air quality and climate change projects earmarked by the department for the new financial year is the purchase of two continuous air monitors for the Province at a total cost of R400 000.
Williams also pointed out that Kimberley was set to host the National Air Quality Lekgotla later this year.
A total of 1 940 youths from all corners of the Province have begun or are about to begin training in various courses as part of the department’s Youth Employment Programme.This training is set to cost R79 million.
A further R19 million will also be spent on the mass cleaning of the Province’s coastal areas including Alexander Bay, Port Nolloth and Hondeklipbaai for the next two years.
The total budget of the department is R157.9 million. Of this, R72.3 million has been set aside for administration.
The department’s Environmental Policy, Planning and Co-ordination section gets a 5.6% increase, from R10.7 million to R11.3 million, while the budget for Compliance and Enforcement duties is R10.4 million and R14.6 million has been earmarked for Environmental Quality Management.
“The second biggest slice of this small cake goes to Biodiversity Management at R35.1 million, while R13.9 million will be used for Environmental Empowerment Services.
“It is a matter of proud record to announce that the extent to which we remain prudent with the public purse saw us achieve another clean audit last year. We are doing more with less,” Williams added.