A GROWING CITY NEEDS TO EXPAND ITS INFRASTRUCTURE
ith urbanisation the population of Msunduzi continues to expand. Therefore we are redirecting most of our capital budget towards infrastructure. This continued population growth has further strained our infrastructure as the demand is far greater than the resources available. This is something not unique to Msunduzi but is evident in many of the larger metropoles within the developing world.
We are currently growing at around 3% per year and understandably this does create challenges which we are addressing. In terms of energy, as I have mentioned, we have a MOU with Eskom and we are investing in further training to ensure we have the skills and capacity to maintain the infrastructure.
Our approach is not only to refurbish existing infrastructure but also to invest in expanding capacity to accommodate growth projections for the next several decades. We are adopting the same approach with water provision.
Although we have certain serious water infrastructure challenges that will require us to replace ageing, brittle pipelines, we have also achieved major successes in the provision of clean potable water to communities. We have supplied potable water to nearly every household in the city including 250 000 residents of Vulindlela.
Next month we will unveil a project worth R480 million - the Vulindlela Bulk Water Scheme. We are negotiating with Eskom to ensure that the pump station in the area doesn't experience load shedding.
We have resumed the building of a reservoir in Incwadi and Elandskop which will alleviate some of the challenges in the area and we are building a new reservoir in Copesville/Hanniville.
We appeal to residents to understand that it takes hours to refill reservoirs. When we encounter problems in reticulation systems our teams attend to these disruptions speedily but it takes time to refill and repressurise the system. However with the new reservoirs we want to assure these communities that prolonged water disruptions will become a thing of the past.
However we are working with Umgeni water, COGTA and Treasury to address water and sanitation infrastructure challenges.