27 March 2009
Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Minister in
the Western Cape, Pierre Uys visited the newly completed Montagu, Ashbury
reservoir on Friday. Accompanied by the executive mayor of the Breede River /
Winelands municipality, Councillor John Ngonyama, Uys said that the reservoir
would help address water pressure and storage challenges in Montagu.
Government provided R2,1 million towards the building of the reservoir,
while the municipality contributed R2,3 million and an additional R1,6 million
came from the private sector bringing the total project cost to R6,1 million.
The governmentâs contribution to the project came from Municipal Infrastructure
Grant (MIG) to support municipalities throughout the province with various
infrastructure projects.
Montagu currently supports a community of approximately 10 000 people. In
recent years, it has experienced rapid growth due to new developments,
especially the Ashbury development where subsidised housing project of 680 was
completed with a need for approximately another 480 sites. The water pressure
in the Ashbury zone is low, therefore the need for the new 2Ml Ashbury
reservoir that would also provide additional storage capacity for future
developments.
The project is in its final completion stage. All construction work is
completed and the reservoir is filled with water. The only outstanding work is
landscaping and clearing of the site. Approximately 1 282 households will
benefit from this project.
Mayor Ngonyama welcomed the project. âWater is life, without it we cannot
survive and it is important that we bring it to where hundreds of our people
need it. I am sure that this project means a great deal to our people and is
important for our townâs growth and development.â
Enquiries:
Minister Uys
Cell: 082 455 5144
Cobus Grobler
Media officer
Cell: 073 133 7299
Issued by: Department of Local Government, Western Cape Provincial
Government
27 March 2009
