Cape Town - The City of Cape Town is optimistic that it will spend R10 billion in one year on infrastructure.
Subcouncil 15, which consists of six wards that include Epping Industria 1, Pinelands, Maitland and Wingfield, met Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis at the Pinelands Town Hall on Monday evening to discuss some of the community’s most pressing service delivery complaints.
Hill-Lewis said complaints had been similar across the city, relating to the sewage system and road infrastructure. The biggest complaint had been over sewer spills, with the subcouncil averaging six sewer spills a day.
A large portion of the R10bn budget would go towards upgrading and increasing the size of the newer network pipes, Hill-Lewis said.
Over the next three years, the City plans to spend R720 million on new sewer pipes. Pipe replacement work is foreseen in the next 18-24 months.
About 2 679 spills had been recorded, with 20% related to the removal of rags, plastic bottles and other foreign objects.
Hill-Lewis said it was difficult to budget and fix all of the City’s more than 50 000 rental stock units.
The second-largest complaint was over non-functioning street lights, largely due to the theft of cable, which was sold. The City is compiling a list of 20 illegal scrapyards with the intention of taking legal action for their closure.
Addressing safety and security, the City has budgeted for 230 new officers, which would include a highway patrol unit to be launched soon. The unit will offer 24-hour support on major highways and main arterial roads.
Mayco member for human settlements, Malusi Booi, said his department is working on handing over semi-detached and stand-alone rental stock units.
Member for safety and security JP Smith said the relocation of refugees at Bellville and Wingfield sites, was a “massive crisis”.
“The mayor’s office... is not paying for the tent anymore and we have now initiated or (are) pushing them to initiate the eviction proceedings because that Ken-Fac community is giving us huge grief about this, and rightly so.”