Electrification ceremony left powerless
LOAD shedding yesterday cast a shadow over the launch of the electrification of nearly a thousand households in Snake Park, Kimberley, as Sol Plaatje executive mayor, Patrick Mabilo, was unable to ceremoniously flick the “lights on” switch.
Mabilo yesterday attended the launch, where 949 homes in Snake Park received electricity from the Sol Plaatje Municipality.
During October 2018, the municipality embarked on a R24 million electrification project to provide a total of 1 515 households with basic electricity services by the end of June this year.
Areas earmarked were Kutlwano Township (electrification of 40 households already completed), 300 households in Platfontein, 139 in Santa Centre, 64 in Soul City, 15 in Mathibe Location and 949 in Snake Park.
Mabilo said yesterday that 20 young people from various wards had been employed as labourers for the project and added that they would gain basic health and safety skills while also being accredited so that they could use these skills for future job prospects. He further pleaded with residents to keep their homes, streets and city clean.
“We have embarked on a clean city project to reduce the deterioration of infrastructure and drainage challenges. However, there is continuous illegal dumping by residents. We are aware of our shortcomings with regard to refuse collection in certain areas within the municipality. We have to work together to redefine and renew our city. We have to take charge and responsibility by being active participants in the areas we reside in,” Mabilo said.
He added that the municipality was committed to ensuring that cost-cutting measures were in place in order to reduce debt while providing quality work and services to residents.
“We have utilised engineers from the municipality, who have spearheaded this project by providing LED street lights which are of very high quality and have the same capacity in terms of power. If residents want to extend their homes or build additional rooms in the yard, the capacity will allow for that,” Mabilo concluded.
While Mabilo was scheduled to ceremoniously flick the “lights on” switch that would provide electricity to the households for the first time, this was prevented by the load shedding that occurred in the area at the time.
It is expected that the ceremony will take place later this week when load shedding is not occurring.