Residents of Mchubakazi Township in Butterworth have welcomed the announcement of a multi-million-rand road construction project by Mnquma Local Municipality, which is set to give the township a much-needed facelift.
Flanked by members of her mayoral committee, Mnquma Local Municipality executive mayor, Tunyiswa Manxila-Nkamisa, delivered the good news to a large group of residents who gathered at the construction site last week.
Manxila-Nkamisa revealed that the nearly R21 million project was funded by the Office of the Eastern Cape Premier.
The scope of work would consist of inter-locking block paving covering 2.44km of internal streets, and installation of a storm-water drainage system in Mchubakazi, and will take eight months to complete.
She further said that local sub-contractors would get job opportunities, adding that a project steering committee was to be appointed before the end of last week for the jobs allocation process to begin.
Manxila-Nkamisa called on residents and the contractor to forge good relations for the project to become successful.
“The contractor and residents must both look after each other so that this project can be finished on time. As a community you must protect the road equipment against theft or vandalism,” she explained.
The project was scheduled to officially get underway on January 29.
Meanwhile, the local municipality, which recently celebrated a second successive clean audit opinion from the Auditor General South Africa, has added three brand new Komatsu GD555 Graders and one Komatsu PC 300 Excavator to beef up the existing yellow plant aimed at improving road infrastructure.
According to municipal manager, Silumko Mahlasela, the new plant will hit the ground as part of a rapid intervention to fix roads that have been eroded following the heavy rainfall during the recent festive season.
According to the municipality, the yellow plant, which was delivered last week, cost around R12 million.
