SOME villages in Limpopo will have to wait until 2025 to get clean water!
The Department of Water and Sanitation has informed the portfolio committee on water and sanitation that the programme for the reconnection of 31 villages in Giyani is recommended for approval as Phase 2 and will be implemented in the financial year 2024/25.
During the presentation on Tuesday, 12 September, the department said that 43 contractors will be working on the project.
Reticulation (getting water from source to tap) began in August 2022.
Deputy director-general Risimati Mathye said: "The reticulation programme will extend the supply from bulk pipelines (currently under implementation through Giyani Water Service project) to household level. The estimated total cost at completion is R1,3 billion."
He said water supply to the first 24 villages in Phase 1 has already started. Mathye said there are currently 37 contractors on the ground working on the project, contracted through WSIG (Water Services Infrastructure Grant) funds.
The committee heard that progress for the 37 contractors is at different stages, with advanced progress in Bambeni Village which is at 96%.
The average progress for all 37 contracts is 38%.
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Daily Sun reported on the sufferings by the residents in Malamulele, a stone-throw away from the Nandoni dam where water is sourced from.
The Giyani Bulk Water Supply Scheme began in August 2014 following a visit by former president Jacob Zuma.
But nine years later, the promise of clean water has not been delivered.
The original budget for the project was R502 million. It was supposed to be completed in 2017. Now it amounts to R3 billion.
The completion date has already been postponed more than 10 times since its origin in 2014.
Mathye told the committee that the completion dates for Phase 1 vary, depending on the date that the contractor was appointed and started with the works and the projects will be completed progressively per village starting from December 2023 to July 2024.
"These reticulation projects are expected to be completed within 12 months from the day of starting works," he said.
He said the 40km pipeline from Nandoni dam is completed, putting the overall progress to date at 95,7%.
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu said corruption contribute largely to the delay of the project.
He said there were parallel programmes underway to deal with corruption.
He said there was a court case brought by the Special Investigating Unit on a claim amounting to R2 billion flowing from the water scheme corruption.
"On a greater scheme of things, villages of Vhembe where the dam is, we still low in terms of satisfying their demand. We think that district requires a lot of intervention from local department to make it workable,” he said.
He said the progress was not as beautiful as they would have loved, but they were making good of the promise.
“We are far close today than we were two years ago,” he said.
