The Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo needs about R4 billion to refurbish dilapidated water infrastructure. This was revealed by the acting executive mayor of the district, Anderson Mudunungu, during the district water summit being held at Makhado Continuous Program Centre in Nzhelele outside Louis Trichardt.
Mudunungu says about R200-million has been set aside for the maintenance of water infrastructure this financial year.
The two-day water summit is aimed at developing plans to resolve water problems in the Vhembe District. This as hundreds of villages are without adequate access to water. The area is home to a multi-billion rand Nandoni Dam.
The dam is full to capacity yet residents don’t have water. It was completed 10 years ago. There are eight other dams and more than 3 000 boreholes, yet water provision remains a challenge.
Acting executive mayor Anderson Mudunungu says aging infrastructure is the main problem.
“In terms of the maintenance in the current financial year, we had to adjust the budget in that division. We will be spending something like R200-million but the backlog is about R4-billion or upwards. DSW can also add to that one because we will be depending on them that’s why we are having this symposium here for water and sanitation,” says Mudunungu.
The head of the Water and Sanitation Department in the province, Lucy Kobe, says they are supporting the district on various water projects to resolve water challenges.
“For this financial year we have put around R90-million to support the Kutama-Sinthumule bulk water supply system . We were recently been approved to support the municipality to upgrade the Nandoni system through our grant,” says Kobe.
The water entity, Lepelle Northern Water Board, says it has plans to complete the multi-billion rand Giyani water project. The project was marred by allegations of corruption. About four billion rand has been spent since the bulk water project started about 10 years ago.
The water board chairperson Nndweleni Mphephu has expressed confidence that the project will be completed by September this year.
“Our role is a bulk water service provider to the water service authorities that include Vhembe. We are operating Nandoni water scheme, the Giyani project is on and we are still on course. We have developed a plan to be completed by September, we also have a pipeline which comes from Nandoni, Nandoni to Nsami which we are still aiming that it should be completed by September this year and all the 55 villages should get water,” says Mphephu.
Meanwhile, it has emerged during the summit that more than 700 boreholes drilled in Vhembe are not working due to lack of maintenance.
