MOSSELBAY NEWS - "Mossel Bay Municipality has performed well in the past year and scored notable achievements," municipal manager Advocate Thys Giliomee said.
He highlighted several of these in the most recent annual report that was tabled in council.
"The municipality has, through the hard work of its employees, been able to maintain constant high levels of service delivery. It continues to rank among the top 10% of municipalities in the country with regards to service delivery.
"The focus going forward will have to be to maintain acceptable service levels while at the same time keeping them affordable for our ratepayers," Advocate Giliomee said.
The municipality successfully consulted all communities in October 2016 in preparation for the planning and drafting of the fourth-generation Integrated Development Plan (IDP) that was officially adopted in the past year.
Furthermore, the municipality successfully conducted a strategic planning workshop in November last year to determine the overarching development priorities that would underpin the development agenda for the next five years.
"The municipality successfully developed a new Spatial Development Framework that will guide land use and development," Adv Giliomee said.
"Due to the frequent burst water pipe problems in the KwaNonqaba area, asbestos pipes were replaced by PVC pipes throughout the area at a total cost of R1 872 770 excluding VAT and R732 105 (excluding VAT) of the Extended Public Works Programme. Several other water and sewer pipelines were upgraded as well."
The regional wastewater treatment works were upgraded. This included the installation of two sludge recycle pumps, waste pumps, splash boards, safety railings at the dry beds and the refurbishment at one maturation dam.
Several upgrades were done to the electricity supply network and an electrification project was undertaken to supply electricity to 443 informal households in the KwaNonqaba, Asla Park and Great Brak areas.
The project involved the installation of medium voltage and low voltage electrical reticulation at a cost of more than R7 million."
Completed human settlements capital projects included the Wolwedans land rehabilitation project and the provision of services to the Sonskynvallei and Herbertsdale human settlement projects.
The construction of top structures (houses) for the Sonskynvallei project commenced and the municipality successfully relocated families from the Powertown informal settlement that is located within a flood plain.
The construction of the 154 top structures in Herbertsdale was delayed due to challenges experienced in the tender process, due to a shortage of funds.
The municipality was in ongoing engagement with the department of human settlements to remedy the issue through the increase of the housing project funding allocation.
"Walvis Street was constructed while various streets were upgraded in KwaNonqaba, Friemersheim and Herbertdale. The new traffic circle at Da Nova was completed successfully and has improved traffic in the area," Adv Giliomee said.
He added that a substantial number of socio-economic development programmes and projects were again rolled out, including the opening of the Youth Café in Great Brak River.
Broad community development, rural development, poverty alleviation through, among others, soup kitchens, sewing groups and household food gardens, early childhood programmes and youth development programmes made a huge difference in the lives of Mossel Bay residents.
Several initiatives were launched to stimulate the local economy and rural development.
A total of 794 jobs were created over the past financial year, vastly more than the 514 in the previous financial year by using the Extended Public Works Programme.
"The municipality continued with its strategy to host festivals and to market the town to stimulate the local economy and small enterprises.
"The participation in, and attendance of these festivals were again very good and certainly proved that the objectives were met."
ARTICLE: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER NEWS EDITOR
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