City’s big capital spend on infrastructure
Budget focus on rural and semi-urban upgrades.
A TOTAL of R315-million has been allocated to improving the city’s infrastructure over the next year, most of which will be spent on uplifting rural and semi-urban areas.
Discussing the annual budget at a roadshow presented at the Civic Centre Auditorium on Wednesday, uMhlathuze Municipality’s Chief Financial Officer Mxolisi Kunene revealed all the upgrades in store for the region.
Most significantly will be the almost R60-million allocated for sanitation and water services for rural and semi-urban zones.
Overall, R42-million has been set aside for bulk services in Aquadene and R18-million will go to the expansion of eSikhaleni roads to the John Ross Parkway intersection.
‘It currently takes an hour of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for eSikhaleni residents during morning and late afternoon rush hours,’ said Kunene.
‘This is a problem for many people working in Richards Bay and Empangeni and it is not conducive to boosting the local economy.’
Kunene added the municipality has to prioritise disadvantaged Zululanders.
‘We have communities who can afford services and communities who cannot. We have to balance it and provide decent services for everyone.’
To strengthen the fight against crime, the city has also decided to bring back the security bicycle project.
‘The project was subsidised by BHP Billiton, but eventually fell flat.
‘While we are not directly responsible for crime issues, criminality in the city has become too problematic to ignore, so we are putting mechanisms in place to address it and support the police.’
After numerous pipe bursts across the region over the past year, the city has budgeted R50.9-million to replace pipelines in Richards Bay, Nseleni, Ngwelezane and Empangeni.
‘We are planning to replace all uMhlathuze’s pipes, but this will obviously not happen in one year.
‘This will continue to be budgeted for in years going forward.’
