Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi tackles water crisis in his SOPA
“In response to the water shortage crisis, the Gauteng government will build an emergency boosting pumping station which will go live this week”, says Lesufi
Delivering his State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Monday, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi first dealt with the contentious issue of water cuts affecting scores of households that led to protests as irate residents took the streets.
Lesufi was at pains to explain that last month, unexpected water shortages occurred after an explosion at the Rand Water plant caused a transmission machine to catch fire leading up to burst water pipes.
However, Lesufi said the area affected by the explosion was fixed within 72 hours, the fire extinguished and burst pipes repaired. But water levels were still badly affected which led to the protests.
This prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene, and he told the water and sanitation minister and her deputy to skip the State of the Nation Address in Cape Town and attend to the water crisis.
According to Lesufi the water ministry had to give an extraordinary proclamation to allow Rand Water to immediately extract more water from the Vaal River Integrated Water System.
The Premier went on to give a blow-by-blow account of areas that were affected and how far the water restoration process was with some areas reportedly having stable water supplies while flow to others has been partially restored.
However, Lesufi said a R760 million massive infrastructure investment upgrade is underway in COJ over a phased approach, where construction of a new ground reservoir and tower in Brixton is underway and will go live by the coming Saturday to improve supply.
“In response to this crisis, we will build an emergency boosting pumping station which will go live this week to ensure that these areas are covered with water. The permanent solution will be realised once the construction of the 5km pipeline is concluded at the end of the year”.
“Furthermore, the national government is assisting us in realising the return on investment made, so that the people of Hammanskraal, Bronkhorspruit, Kokosi, Fochville, Kwa-Thema and other areas can have their dignity restored.
“But let me be clear, the challenge is not water availability, but the interruptions caused by infrastructure failures, leaks and high-demand peaks. We are working as the three
spheres of government to fix the water challenges in our province. We are about to conclude the expansion of our water infrastructure so that we can be ready to receive additional water from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, thus cementing our water security permanently”.
Lesufi also spoke about Gauteng’s approach to economic growth and job creation by reindustrialisation of the province, boosting township economies and local enterprises.
He also acknowledged that for the Gauteng economy to grow, the provincial government must first tackle crime, corruption, lawlessness, improve infrastructure and accelerate service delivery.
On a positive note, Lesufi said Gauteng has managed to attract R27 billion in Foreign Direct Investment from a diverse set of countries, including the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Australia, Cyprus, the USA and the UAE, underscoring international confidence in this province as South Africa’s primary investment and industrial hub.
On e-tolls, the Premier said Gauteng EXCO has adopted the Transport Master plan which will open new roads in the province to ease morning and afternoon traffic congestion.
“The Provincial Government took a deliberate decision to assume responsibility for the e-toll debt to relieve residents of the financial burden and open our roads for maintenance. To date, the province has paid over R9 billion towards the total e-toll debt of R20.086 billion.
“Those who came before us in 2012 saw the need to go to the private market to secure funding for R27 billion to build the Gautrain. By the end of March this year, the private sector will hand over to us the R52 billion infrastructure fully owned by the people of Gauteng. To maximise this investment later this year, we will resume the process to expand Gautrain to Soweto, Mamelodi, Springs, Atteridgeville, Fourways, etc”.
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