Drought mitigation projects are in full swing, with the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recently having received a rollover grant of more than R50 million to boost these projects.
Although there hasn’t been any significant rainfall in the metro over the past few weeks, the R55 million grant by the National Treasury will help the metro fund improvements that are to be made to the Motherwell and Stanford Road booster pump stations.
In a letter addressed to the municipality, the National Treasury Deputy Director-General of intergovernmental relations, Malijeng Ngqaleni, said that the money is also allocated for the installation of new pump sets at these stations.
The scope of work for the projects entails the construction of new variable speed drive and medium voltage transformer rooms.
Two new pumps and motor sets, as well as new variable speed drives and motor control centres, will be supplied and installed.
Various valves will also be supplied and installed and telemetry systems and miscellaneous improvements to the pump station site will also be made.
Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor, Retief Odendaal, said that the money was not spent during the previous financial year and explained that the rollover application was of critical importance to the metro since it could so easily have been forfeited to the national fiscus.
“This could have seriously compromised our drought mitigation projects,” he said.
He added that the disaster relief grant was much needed by the metro to boost the Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works and groundwater resources schemes which seek to avert Day Zero from becoming a reality.
He explained that the Motherwell and Stanford Road pump stations were constructed in 2014, as part of the Nooitgedacht/Coega Low Level Scheme.
They boost the pressure in the pipeline to ensure supply to the western areas of the Bay. Currently, the Motherwell Booster Pump Station is limited to approximately 90 megalitres per day and the Stanford Road Booster Pump Station to about 100 megalitres per day.
“They urgently require to be upgraded to 120 megalitres and 135 megalitres per day transfer capacity respectively, to enable them to transfer the balance of 210 megalitres per day that is not used in the eastern areas when Nooitgedacht phase 3 works are completed.
The work has started at both sites and we expect the completion of the work in September 2023,” he said.
“Without the approval of the rollover, the municipality would not have been able to honour the committed costs towards completing the work. As a city, we have also committed our own funding towards the project,” he added.
“Whilst the metro is greatly appreciative that the rollover application has been approved, it is unfortunate that there was an amount of R19,6 million that was not approved for rollover by Treasury.”
South African Weather Services spokesperson at the Gqeberha branch, Garth Sampson, has once again urged residents to continue saving water as much as possible.
When asked about rainfall forecasts for the next week, Sampson said that there are bouts of rain in the vicinity of one and two millimetres forecast for this week and next.
“At times five or 10mm are forecast over the next two weeks, but nothing dam filling or enough to get us out of the drought situation,” he said.
“The seasonal forecast is still looking good though,” Sampson added.
