Pretoria – Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masualle says particular attention will be paid to the two metropolitan municipalities and the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in the new administration to ensure they reach their full potential.
He said the Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay and KSD municipalities had yet to realise their potential to be centres of provincial economic growth.
“Whilst providing targeted support, we will also develop options to ensure sustainable service delivery in the following municipalities: Ikhwezi, Inkwankca, Tsolwana, Great Kei, Baviaans, Gariep, Sunday’s River Valley, Koukamma and Ngqushwa,” said the Premier, delivering his State of the Province Address on Friday.
He said over the next five years, the provincial government would strengthen its support to municipalities in an endeavor to improve governance and the provision of basic services, including the provision of bulk water infrastructure and the eradication of the bucket system.
Working together with the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation, the province will invest more than R6 billion in regional bulk water projects.
These include the Ndlambe regional bulk water supply project - R879 million, Xhorha East water project - R258 million, Mncwasa water project- R264 million, Mbizana regional bulk water supply - R278 million, KSD bulk water project - R400 million, Xhonxa - R444 million and the cluster bulk water projects in Chris Hani valued at more than R800 million.
“One of our mandates as the provincial government is the coordination of support to local government. We agree fully with the President when he says that our people’s experience of local government must be a pleasant one,” said the Premier.
He further congratulated the Cacadu District Municipality for being named as one of the municipalities that have shown “consistent good performance in audits, expenditure on municipal infrastructure grants and service delivery” by President Jacob Zuma.
“We have also noted with appreciation, the national support to be provided to municipalities in the province in areas of infrastructure development and administration capacity. These municipalities are Amathole, OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Mbizana, Ntabankulu, Lukhanji and Mbhashe.”
Premier Masualle added that working with relevant national departments and public entities, the province will roll out a massive programme to assist the poorest rural district municipalities to address service backlogs and upgrades. These include OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo, Joe Gqabi, Chris Hani and Amathole.
“This programme includes sewerage, bulk water and water reticulation, upgrade of water and sanitation infrastructure, building and upgrading electricity distribution network, road construction and maintenance, building schools, clinics and hospitals, as well as ICT infrastructure.”
Premier Masualle added that the following areas will be prioritised during this term, expanding the government-business collaborations to cover all critical economic sectors; establishing social compacts for quality education and health; strengthening the already established partnerships with community- based structures to fight crime. – SAnews.gov.za
