Toilet project raises a stink

GONE: NO EXPLANATION FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO MONEY ALLOCATED TO RESIDENTS’ LOOS

Newcastle municipality says job is ‘in the pipeline’ to be completed next year.

About 150 toilets have been lying on a building site near the informal settlement of F Section in Newcastle since January, after a project to install them was suddenly halted.

The project, launched in November 2018, was to replace pit toilets the residents have used since 2002, when the informal settlement was established. But flush toilets have been provided for just 30 households to date, with 146 not installed.

Ward councillor Fikile Gama said the project had been halted because of financial problems in the municipality.

“Our municipality is experiencing big financial constraints. Only 30 toilets had been provided out of 176 households allocated for the toilet project, when the building material became short.

“But, hopefully, the project will be completed once the municipality has sorted out its financial problems, probably by next year,” said Gama, who was reluctant to explain what had happened to the budget allocated to the project.

Doctor Ngwenya, 50, who has been a resident of F Section for 17 years, is losing hope that the toilet project will ever be completed.

He said during a meeting with residents in March, Gama had failed to tell residents what had happened to the money.

He is also expressed concern about the drainage of the pit toilets by lorries.

“The toilet drainage system is very unreliable as it takes months before our toilets get drained.

“Sometimes, it takes even three months before they are drained, and the stench becomes