Deputy Mayor assesses city infrastructure
Msunduzi Municipality Deputy Mayor Mxolisi Mkhize embarked on a two-day walkabout in the CBD with the aim of assessing the state of the city’s infrastructure.
During the stroll, which started on Monday in the lower part of the city, Mkhize and the infrastructure services portfolio committee identified potholes, broken pavements, blocked storm water drains, water leaks and dysfunctional traffic lights.
The committee’s intention is to conduct assessments and engage with some residents before they sit for their first portfolio committee meeting on February 7.
“We managed to find a number of illegal connections. We have sent a team from electricity to do disconnections. Final investigations on whether water meters have been bypassed will be done. A number of people have been infringing our bylaws. There are shacks that are built within the CBD. We are sending a report from a portfolio committee of sustainable development to come and do an investigation,” said the deputy mayor.
“We have managed to convince all the owners of the salons within the CBD that tomorrow (Wednesday), we want to have a formal meeting with them to discuss how they should handle their garbage,” Mkhize added.
He said they have noticed that the major contributors of littering within Timber Street and Theatre Lane are the owners of the salons.
“We believe that if we can have an engagement with them, we can develop a programme of action moving forward,” said Mkhize.
He said it was a responsibility to attend to water leaks. “We have deployed the plumbers to start fixing those water leaks. We are taking drastic measures with those infringing our bylaws,” he added.