The Sundays River Valley Citrus Producers Forum has embarked on an initiative to assist the Sundays River Valley Municipality with infrastructure maintenance. Working with some businesses at Kirkwood, the forum started a program where they offer equipment such as pipes and valves to deal swiftly with problems related to infrastructure maintenance. The idea came about after violent service delivery protests.
They also offer a call-in service where residents report electricity and water problems. General Manager of the Sundays River Valley Citrus Producers Forum, Greg Jones says they are still using municipal workers for the maintenance.
“We bought all the tools that were necessary, not everything, but a lot of the tools we bought. We supply things like fittings when pipes bursts, in anyone of the townships, so we work across the valley from the west end right through to the east end. It’s Kleinpoort right through to the Sunday’s river mouth, and there is need all the time so we had to get that up and running.”
The forum has spent between six and eight million rand since the inception of this project in 2014. Managing Director of Sunday’s River Citrus Company, Hannes De Waal says although they might be considered as competitors, they however came together to ensure this project is a success.
“The Sunday’s River Valley exports about 21 million cartons, and the expected growth is about 30 to 45% in the near future. We gained permission from every producer in the valley to deduct ten cents of every export carton, and use that as a budget of what Greg and his office use in order to do the work that they are able to do.”
This has also taken the load off municipal workers who now have easier access to the equipment unlike before where they had to wait a number of days for parts to be ordered. Ariston Gallant works in the maintenance section of Sunday’s River Valley Municipality.
“Ever since Greg and his forum came on board, the moral of the team has went up, because they know now that they have access to material and stuff and the production has also increased, and also the relief that we can bring to the community, because we can respond.”
The community says the program has made communication easier. They are now able to report problems and the forum communicates to them what the fault is and how long it will take to fix.
The forum hopes to work closely with the provincial government to develop the small towns under this municipality.
