Critical water project revived

Department restores full budget for Nooitgedacht

THE Nooitgedacht expansion project has been brought back to life with a commitment from the Department of Water and Sanitation that it is no longer slashing its budget.

Metro spokesman Sibongile Dimbaza said the news had been confirmed verbally yesterday by senior national water officials.

This followed an appeal from the metro for the department to reconsider its shock revision of the budget, which emerged last week.

“We welcome the commitment to recommence work from Monday,” Dimbaza said.

“This is an important development, bringing the project back to life.”

A visit to the site on Monday revealed that the operation had come to a standstill amid news of the budget cut and a safety officer who had walked off site, which meant that work could not continue legally.

Dimbaza said the R93-million grant initially earmarked for the first tranche of funding this financial year, which was slashed to R59-million, had been restored in full.

With the supply dams now at 26.16% capacity, continued saving wherever possible via the metro’s multi- pronged water turnaround strategy was imperative.

This included a stipulation that residents should use no more than 60 litres of water a day.

Despite yesterday’s good news, a written commitment from the department confirming its original agreement to R390-million in funding over three years for the project appears to still be lacking.

Questions about this and the details of what had led to the draft budget revision – and how the department had since been able to revert to the original figure, were sent to Water and Sanitation spokesman Sputnik Ratau.

In his reply, he said only that Nooitgedacht phase three was “a multi-year project and its funding is guaranteed beyond March 2018.

“The draft budget adjustment was informed by current [Department of Water and San- itation] spending and is not cast in stone.”

Interaction had taken place within the department and with implementing agent Amatola Water and consultants, resulting in a decision to stick to the original planned expenditure, Ratau said.

“This will ensure that the project will spend within its final project allocations and, all things being equal, deliver according to the intended dates and time.”

Amatola Water, a state entity accountable to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, was asked on Wednesday about the reported R100 000 a day that would be levied by contractor Stefanutti Stocks for each day its teams were not able to work.

Amatola Water acting chief executive Asanda Gidana said this issue would be addressed in terms of standard practice on projects of this nature.

“The financial implications of this delay for the project are contractually covered.

“The [project] is on track to be completed during 2019.”

Stefanutti Stocks declined to comment on the penalties issue or the R28-million it was owed on outstanding project invoices, which had been highlighted by the DA’s Leon Bas-

This is an important development, bringing the project back to life

son. A source close to the project said the figure was correct.

The department agreed in 2015 to fund the phase three expansion of Nooitgedacht, which already supplies 160 megalitres a day of the metro’s daily consumption of 280ML.

Once completed, the project will feed a further 70 million litres of water a day to the metro, a key back-up volume to alleviate demand on the dwindling supplies in the drought-hit Kouga, Impofu, Churchill and Groendal dams.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber said the Nooitgedacht expansion project and, more broadly, the deteriorating water situation in the Bay needed urgent collective action.

“The water crisis is not only detrimental to business, but also to livelihoods,” chamber chief executive Nomkhita Mona said.

“Urgent contingency measures that need to be taken include education, prevention of water wastage and technologically advanced solutions.

“This will include drilling for water, water desalination and introducing tighter water restrictions.”

It was common cause that the metro was losing high volumes of water due to negligence and ageing infrastructure.

“The water crisis needs to be urgently addressed as it will have an adverse effect on investor confidence,” she said.

“If it is not resolved, it could bring the metro economy to a grinding halt.

“We are more than willing to be part of the solution, as we believe the crisis requires urgent collective action.”