President Jacob Zuma has today, 29 September 2011, concluded his two-day visit to the Eastern Cape and was encouraged by the progress made since his intervention last year and has urged all role players to increase the pace of delivery of services.
"I am pleased with the reported progress, although a lot more still needs to be done to improve the quality of life in Mthatha," said the President as he assured the people of Mthatha that the visit was not the end, but that he had come to give a progress report and work will continue till the goals are met.
The President was today shown progress in the delivery of services and arresting the decline of infrastructure and development in the municipality in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. He visited the municipality as part of his Performance Monitoring and Evaluation visits to all the provinces of the country.
Previously, President Zuma has engaged with this community, who expressed deep frustration at the steady deterioration of the town and its surroundings, and pointed to challenges including dilapidated infrastructure such as water, sanitation, roads, electricity and housing and the need to improve local government management and systems.
In 2009, to arrest this decline, Mthatha was declared a Rapid High Impact Presidential Intervention Node. The Intervention was intended to address the aforementioned infrastructure backlogs and service delivery challenges and fully revitalise Mthatha.
President Zuma today was today appraised of the progress in the implementation of the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality’s Sustainable Development Master Plan (the Plan), which spans over 20 years.
To date, significant investments have been made towards KSD and some catalytic projects have been completed including work on the Mthatha airport, roads, water, sanitation and electricity projects. There is now also improved coordination between the relevant structures especially among offices of the Mayor, MEC and national government.
The President noted progress in the upgrading of roads in particular where completed road projects include Phase 1 of the Nqandu West Surface Road and the stretch of road from Mthatha Shell Ultra City to Mthatha River and Ncembu through the plateau to the Langeni forest. Over 20 funded high impact road projects are currently underway, including the widening of the Mthatha Bridge and improvements on Spring Street. There was also work underway to fix potholes in areas such as South Ridge and Southernwood.
On water services, the President noted that Phase 1 of the upgrading of bulk water services and pipelines from Thornhill to Fortgal and the new Coffee Bay regional water supply scheme had been completed. The refurbishment of the raw water pipeline from Mthatha Dam to Thornhill was currently underway.
President Zuma was also pleased to see that Phase 1 of the Waste Water Treatment Works had been completed and further upgrades of the Mthatha Waste Water Treatment and the Mqanduli Sewer system were underway. It was noted that resources were urgently required to fully revitalise Mthatha’s sanitation to meet capacity. This funding is currently not available but could be partly funded through the additional bulk infrastructure funding that the National Treasury is working on.
At Zimbane and other areas, electricity projects were currently underway including the upgrade of the primary network. More funds and more work needs to be done to upgrade the primary, secondary and distribution networks.
This could be partly funded through the additional bulk infrastructure funding that the National Treasury will provide to the KSD municipality. The Department of Energy is currently providing the electricity infrastructure in Zimbane Housing project as part of its programme to bring access to electricity in Mthatha.
Housing developments were also underway, in particular the Human Settlement projects included the Informal Settlement Upgrade Programme (ISUP) in Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Phola Park and Chris Hani informal settlements and Ngangelizwe. Phase 1 of this project will focus on the provision of interim services and planning for 6600 units.
The President learnt that the Department of Human Settlements has also committed funding for internal bulk services and top structures. The piloting of Alternative Building Technology Project has begun in Ngangelizwe, with six show houses completed to date. The delivery of housing units has been delayed by funding constrains for bulk water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure.
Taking a detour to visit houses and speak to some of the residents, President said “We are here to try fix problems in this area. I have brought Ministers and I am sure they will return even when I am not here. There is a programme for houses, of building bedrooms and plastering the houses. There will also be skills transfer and I am told companies have been subcontracted. They have also assured me that it will take them 10 months to finish the entire airport project".
KSD has further requested technical assistance support from the National and Provincial Treasury as well as the deployment and retention of skilled personnel, especially to its Programme Management Office.
President Zuma has urged the Presidential and Ministerial support team to urgently unlock blockages towards the accelerated implementation of the six catalytic interventions that include resolving powers and functions issues in the delivery of water and sanitation as well as the land claims issues, which are currently impeding the prompt implementation of some projects.
Enquiries:
Zanele Mngadi
Cell: 082 330 1148
Harold Maloka
Cell: 082 847 9799
