Msunduzi Municipality to repair vandalised Eastwood substation
The Eastwood power substation, which was built to provide power to the Eastwood, Cinderella Park and neighbouring settlements, will soon be repaired after being vandalised before it could supply power to the areas.
This promise was made to residents by Msunduzi Municipality mayor, Mzimkhulu Thebolla, members of the finance portfolio committee and other high-ranking officials at a site visit on Maryvale Road in Eastwood yesterday.
The purpose of the in loco inspection was to ascertain the cost of getting the power station up and running again.
The substation was expected to ease the load of the Northdale and Riverside substations to help reduce outages to the benefit of the communities. Cinderella Park bore the brunt of the power outages over the years because informal settlements drew heavily from the electricity grid. Illegal connections also added to the frequent power disruptions.
Despite the municipality disconnecting some of these illegal connections, the connections and theft of cables continues to increase.
Acting general manager of electricity, Ngangenkosi Mpisi outlined the plans for the substation with the residents.
Mpisi said that the substation was commissioned to meet the demand and address the current challenges of power interruptions.
“This will assist in separating the residential load from the industrial load. This substation will help keep the power on while attending to any other problems,” said Mpisi.
Mpisi said that the Eastwood substation would be able to carry a full load if one transformer malfunctions.
“As many of you know, the substation has been vandalised and essential components stolen. We have passed that stage now. We have constructed the 132-volt lines which are 500 m from the T-junction which are able to supply power,” said Mpisi.
“The matter of theft and vandalism was reported to the police and a case number has been provided,” Mpisi added.
When asked about when the substation will be fully operational, Mpisi said that the timeline is totally dependent on the budget provided for the restoration.
Chief financial officer, Nelisiwe Ncgobo, said that the budget will be approved by the end of March 2023.
Brenda Patrick, a member of the Eastwood community, said that the community was concerned about rumours with regard to infrastructure.
“As a community, we have always heard rumours of the infrastructure being old, which is the reason why we have no lights. Will you be replacing the old infrastructure or will you be placing new infrastructure on top of old infrastructure?” asked Patrick.
Chief engineer of planning, Thabani Madladla, agreed that the infrastructure has aged.
“Yes, the infrastructure is ageing but we have to start somewhere, not ignoring the fact that we do need to maintain the ageing infrastructure as we go along,” said Madladla.
“The challenges that the Cinderella Park area is facing is not due to the non-operation of the Eastwood substation, but rather the illegal connections. These illegal connections are tapping into the connections that were only designed for the low-cost housing areas, although some of them have also bypassed the municipality and have made illegal connections,” said Madladla.
Chairperson of the Eastwood Ratepayers Association, Craig Freese, said that it was good to be present to get clarification on the issue of the Eastwood substation.
“We were told that there was vandalism at the site. Surely with a case number from SAPS we should have gotten somewhere by now. Surely, we should know the individuals who are causing damage to the infrastructure, because there are certain regulations and laws in terms of the municipality’s by-laws that if an individual is caught damaging municipal infrastructure he or she will be prosecuted.
“This is the message that we need to send out in order to deter these criminals who want to take chances by vandalising municipal infrastructure,” said Freese.
Thebolla reminded those in attendance of the benefits the substation would have once it is completed.
“70 million rand was spent here initially. This was spent to ease the pressure from the Northdale substation and also to guarantee power supply. This in return will reduce the risk of power outages in the areas heavily affected by power outages,” said Thebolla.
The Malvan area which is an informal settlement will also benefit from the restoration of the Eastwood substation.