Only 862 homes get electricity

THE Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality managed to provide electricity to only 862 houses by December, falling way short of its targeted 2 500 homes for 2017-18.

The municipality had set aside R35-million for the electrification of state-subsidised, formal and informal houses for the year.

About R21-million had been grant funding allocated by the Department of Energy.

Acting electricity and energy boss Bernhardt Lamour, who has been in the position for two weeks, said yesterday he was confident the money would be spent by the end of the financial year, or would be allocated to other projects.

A report to the infrastructure and electricity committee yesterday showed that the city had spent only 30% of its budget by December.

Townships in need of electricity are Motherwell NU30, Chatty Extension, Walmer Airport Valley, Silvertown, Masakhane Village, KwaNobuhle, Joe Slovo West, Khayamnandi and Pola Park.

For Motherwell, only 113 of the projected 300 houses were electrified, in Chatty Extension only 28 out of 300, and in Airport Valley none of the 300 projected homes were connected.

Lamour said the costs had gone towards setting up infrastructure prior to disruptions by small, medium and micro-enterprises.

“We are unhappy with this as it affects our key performance indicators and it raises flags with the auditor-general.

“We should have spent about 50% by December and 70% by this month,” he said. “It is not acceptable.” Lamour said the matter would be discussed further in a meeting with human settlements and economic development officials on Thursday.