MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Mossel Bay Council intends to distance itself from the proposed management model, capacity, capital and operational cost of the proposed regional landfill site that is to be developed at an exorbitant cost.
Mossel Bay ratepayers, as well as other municipal ratepayers in the Eden District, may have to get used to paying excessive fees for waste collection and management.
The current 15% tariff increase for refuse management by the Mossel Bay Municipality is only the first of many steep increases to follow, should the proposed new regional landfill site for waste management be established in the format and according to specifications proposed by consultants for the Eden District Municipality (EDM), despite the reservations voiced by municipal managers on Friday, 5 May.
Once established, the municipalities of Plettenberg Bay (Bitou), Knysna, George, Mossel Bay and Riversdale (Hessequa), and eventually also Oudtshoorn - all B-municipalities - will have to cart their refuse to the new site, in some instances adding additional transport costs to the already heavy burden on ratepayers.
Mossel Bay is furthermore facing the very real risk that it will soon have nowhere to dump the waste generated in the greater municipal area. The municipality has barely 13 months left of the current agreement for refuse to be dumped at the PetroSA waste site, yet there is no finality on the development time frame of the proposed regional landfill site intended for a new site close to PetroSA.
Virtually all of the municipalities in the Eden district that will per instruction have to make use of this new facility have repeatedly expressed their utmost concern at the costs involved in developing the new waste site - costs that seem to increase exponentially with every passing year.
Furthermore, a proposal at the meeting of 5 May by the respective municipal managers to form a working group to assist the EDM with the implementation of the landfill site was thwarted by the EDM municipal manager, Monde Stratu, who refused in writing to provide requested documentation. Instead, he indicated that he would prefer to refer the matter to the Municipal Managers' Forum.
The municipal managers have nevertheless decided to go ahead with their working group in an attempt to ameliorate the matter.
Mossel Bay's municipal manager, Advocate Thys Giliomee, told the Mossel Bay Advertiser: "While council supports the establishment of a regional landfill site, both the capital and operational costs involved are simply not affordable for Mossel Bay."
He added that B-municipalities should ideally be incentivised through a scaled fee structure to protect the environment. "In compliance with the National Environmental Management Act: Waste Act (59 of 2008) all efforts that would reduce refuse, and would convince residents to re-use, recycle and recover waste to ensure that safely disposing of waste is seen as a last resort, should be promoted."
However, it seems a municipal by-law proposed by the EDM disincentivises a reduction in waste disposal.
Strong objections
At the meeting on 5 May the municipal managers of the B-municipalities again strongly objected to the costs involved in establishing the new landfill site. When initially they asked for proof of the appointment of the consultants being used, the EDM apparently sent the B-municipalities from pillar to post, necessitating the municipal managers to insist at this meeting on irrefutable proof that the consultants involved were appropriately appointed.
In addition, the municipal managers insisted on a proper breakdown of renegotiated costs. They particularly requested a detailed breakdown of the proposed tariff of several million rand per annum for administration expenses payable to the EDM to oversee the landfill site that, according to the current proposal, will be operated by a public-private partnership (PPP).
The respective municipal managers strongly argued for a joint, participatory management model that would include B-municipalities, and for incentives for waste reduction.
Despite motivating for the matter to be taken forward jointly by a task team of municipal managers, this proposal was scuppered and the matter was referred to the Municipal Managers' Forum, irrespective of the fact that knowledgable senior municipal employees are normally excluded from this forum's meetings.
The latest tough stand by the municipal managers gives effect to recommendations approved at a special Mossel Bay Council meeting on Thursday, 22 September last year. Council then approved that the EDM be requested to cancel the existing tender for the public-private partnership to design, build, finance and operate the proposed new regional waste site. Council's decision followed a meeting of the B-municipalities on 12 September to discuss the effect of the proposed costs on ratepayers.
Council then instructed that the need for a PPP be revisited and that a new consultant be appointed to handle a new tender process.
When the regional waste site was originally mooted in 2003/4, the proposed total cost for Mossel Bay Municipality was said to be approximately R4 million.
In 2007 PetroSA advised that the respective municipalities using its facilities would have to plan for a new landfill site as it was running out of space. EDM then undertook to establish a regional landfill site with the co-operation of the B-municipalities and appointed consultants to drive the project. Worley Parsons in 2012 undertook a study to determine whether an external service provider could feasibly and cost-effectively operate and manage the site on behalf of the municipality.
The consultants recommended that a Public-Private Partnership design, build, finance and operate the regional landfill site for a period of 15 years due to the significant capital investment required. As part of the PPP tender process, alternative waste treatment technology was included to ensure that the same contractor was appointed to implement this at no additional cost to the B-municipalities. The Eden District Municipality then invited bidders, and two bids were found to be responsive, the one for R1 041 042 094, and the other for R1 087 325 779.
When the consultants' report was made available in 2013, Mossel Bay learnt that their contribution escalated to approximately R16 million for a ten-year period. However, at the close of tender in 2016, the cost had, again, escalated to R19.3 million per annum. Surprisingly it then also included a R2.25 million administration fee - for Mossel Bay - payable to the Eden District Municipality in lieu of their budgeted administration cost of R9 million.
Currently, the total cost of the project is budgeted to amount to R1.5 billion, of which Mossel Bay would have to foot approximately R307m.
Should the B-municipalities be forced into making use of this facility (and apparently there is political pressure being exerted on B-municipalities to commit), ratepayers will face an increase of at least 60% in refuse tariffs. Even if a proposed negotiated project cost cut to R14.5 million materialises, Mossel Bay residents will face an unaffordable 40.9% increase. Should provision be made for indigent and poor households, the proposed increase again tallies to close on 60% or some R1 200 per annum per household.
Attempts to renegotiate the costs resulted in further demands from the consultants for additional fees of more than R2.5 million simply to renegotiate the contract. This, together with the district municipality's administration fee of almost R10 million per annum to oversee the project, prompted the municipal managers of Eden's B-municipalities to recommend that the tender be cancelled in terms of the necessary supply chain management legislation.
Furthermore, it transpired that the EDM, which does not have to account to municipal tax payers, will own the property and plant once it has been established. In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act (No. 56 of 2003) (MFMA) Mossel Bay Municipality, however, will by law not be allowed any capital investment in property that does not belong to council.
EDM's executive manager: community services, Clive Africa, declined to comment on the matter. "Due to the sensitivity of the matter, we will not respond to this request from the media."
ARTICLE: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER NEWS EDITOR
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