Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Gigaba critical of waste project
6 Finance Minister lambasts Drakenstein Municipality over key flaws
DRAKENSTEIN Municipality has been chastised by the National Treasury and ordered to begin a multi-million rand tender process for its waste-toenergy project from scratch. The instruction comes after the original process was found to be critically flawed.
The municipality acknowledged it did not comply with the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Municipal Public-Private Partnership and the Supply Chain Management Regulations when it sought condonation.
Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba told the municipality in a letter in December the fairness of the tender process was compromised and procurement regulations were breached.
“I have, therefore, reviewed the reasons provided by the municipality for the non-compliance and advised that there was insufficient motivation to warrant a favourable consideration of this matter. The application is therefore not approved,” the minister wrote.
Previously, Weekend Argus reported that the municipality’s project, earmarked for construction in Wellington, had come under criticism from local business and community members who questioned its tender process and its impact on the environment and human life. The project involves burning waste and conversion of produced energy into electricity. But business and activists in Wellington slammed the municipality’s bidding process.
The Wellington Association Against the Incinerator spokesperson Keith Roman said they were seeking judicial review on the matter. Roman said the municipality was “bulldozing” the incinerator project without considering other options including waste reduction and recycling.
Another issue raised by the association was how the municipality first called for proposals and then midway through the process adjusted the requirements to include shortlisted bidders having to conduct feasibility studies for the project and to take on the Wellington landfill site.
In his letter, which Weekend Argus is in possession of, Gigaba lambasts the municipality for failing to conduct a feasibility study before inviting proposals from service providers.
“Due to this failure, the municipality was necessitated to amend the initial terms of reference to require service providers to also conduct the required feasibility studies,” the minister wrote.
“This was a critical flaw which ultimately compromised the procurement process.
“Please remedy the situation by either starting the whole process afresh or, consider appointing a different service provider,” Gigaba wrote.
However, the executive director for engineering services in the municipality, Dirk Hattingh, said the fact that the condonation application was declined did not carry much weight. “The refusal, however, does not set aside any decision or agreement. The refusal also does not question the need, merits or sustainability of the project,” Hattingh said.
“National Treasury has further provided various options to take the project forward, in a new, or its current form. As a responsible municipality, Drakenstein must continue to seek a sustainable solution for all our residents,” said Hattingh.
Asked how much the pro- ject was worth, Hattingh said a definite value could not be determined at this stage. “It is estimated that a project of such a nature carries a private sector investment value of approximately R1 billion. This cost will not be invested by the municipality but by the private sector. The private investment will make the cost of waste management affordable for the taxpayer and environmentally sustainable,” Hattingh said.
noloyiso.mtembu@inl.co.za