The City of Cape Town’s R18,5 billion Water and Sanitation budget for the next three financial years was approved at the Council meeting last Wednesday (31 May).
Of this, R4,3 billion is planned for the 2023-’24 financial year, starting Saturday 1 July.
“Over the current financial year, we have already seen various key investments,” said Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien. “While those achievements are recognised and celebrated, we still need to do more. This is because doing the basics better remains a priority for the City. The budget of R18,5 billion for the next three years echoes this commitment.
“Thank you to our residents for their contribution. All these investments are geared towards building a ‘City of Hope’ and actioning our Water Strategy. This is to ensure we continue to deliver clean, reliable drinking water and dignified sanitation services to residents in Cape Town as well as treat wastewater so that we safeguard our environment and improve inland water quality.”
The 2023-’24 Water and Sanitation budget in a nutshell:
Informal settlements
The plan is to spend R38 million on new taps and toilets for informal settlements in addition to services already provided.The directorate will work towards implementing the new water projects that include desalination, aquifer extraction and reuse. The City is set to produce an extra 300 million litres of new water everyday by 2030 and plans to invest R604 million on major projects which form part of the NWP.
Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW)
R1,8 billion is estimated to be spent on extensions and upgrades at WWTWs over the next financial year. This is planned to drastically increase to R3 billion for 2024-’25 financial year.
WWTW extensions will expand the capacity of key facilities which, among others, include Macassar, which will be upgraded from 34 Ml/d to 70 Ml/d and is in the design stage.
As part of proactive efforts to prevent sewer overflows, Strand and Sir Lowry’s Pass/Mission Grounds are among areas set to benefit from R246,5 million aside for replacing 100 km of sewer pipes while Gordon’s Bay is to benefit from the R523 million dedicated to tackle sewer spills by upgrading bulk sewers.
Investing in reliable water supply to properties
R92 million will be spent on replacing 50 km of water pipes in about 25 communities including Somerset West.
Help build resilience during load shedding
The plan is to spend R157,5 million on generators and UPS installations for sewer and water-pump stations as well as bulk-water and wastewater-treatment plants for the upcoming FY and a total of R341 million over the next three FYs.
Improving waterways to reduce risk of flooding
R104,4 million is planned to be invested in projects which, among others specified, are the Lourens River and Macassar flood alleviation, and the Sir Lowry’s Pass River upgrade.
In total, it is planned that R321 million will be spent on these projects over the next three financial years.
