Former Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink has cast aspersions on the new coalition government after the project to commission Magalies Klipdrift package plant last month failed to meet the deadline to deliver piped water to Hammanskraal residents.
Brink said DA was worried “there is no leadership on the issue from Tshwane’s new coalition government” after the news broke this week that phase one of the package plant won’t come online at the end of October.
According to the City, the project to supply water through taps to residents will be rolled out in a phased approach over a period of four months.
The building of the package plant was initially envisaged to be completed in September, then October, but now it has been pushed to November 25.
Brink said:“If this delay will have a knock-on effect on the three other phases of the project, the City of Tshwane must communicate this upfront to Hammanskraal residents. This task cannot be abdicated to Magalies Water.”
He said it was important for the incumbent Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya to stick to the plan devised by the previous government under which she served as deputy mayor.
“Prior to my removal from office, I issued a detailed memorandum to the city manager Johann Mettler and the then deputy mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya on how various risks to the Hammanskraal water project are to be managed,”he said.
Brink said the City will save about R60 million in water tanker fees currently deployed to Hammanskraal if the Magalies Water package plant is completed.
He, however, warned that there are significant business interests who will not want the project to happen.
“Once the package plant is in operation, the City will have to pay Magalies Water for the bulk supply of water, which means that Hammanskraal consumers will have to pay the City beyond the basket of free basic services offered to indigent consumers,”he said.
This week, Moya said: “We were working with the deadline for the end of October for safe water to start flowing into the residents’ taps. Unfortunately there have been some delays particularly in ensuring that by the time the water arrives at the taps it will be safe.”
She said the City was advised by the Magalies Water and the Department of Water and Sanitation to delay the deadline for water problems to avoid causing more health problems to people.
According to her, residents must wait to hear from the government to announce the time when it will be safe to drink water.
Pretoria News