THE controversial water plant that is expected to end the water shedding problems in Esikhawini, northern KZN, has been given the green light.
The multimillion-rand project was supposed to start supplying water in the affected area before Christmas 2022, but the contractor failed to deliver.
This left the City of uMhlathuze with no option but to terminate the contract with the company.
On Wednesday, 5 April the municipality revealed a new company that has been given only three months to finish the job.
When this project is finished it will bring relief to more than 20 000 households that have been experiencing water shedding for close to three years now.
Residents had mixed emotions about the sod turning of this project, saying the construction is long overdue.
Resident Ntombikayise Mbuyisa (45) said: “I don’t want to get excited because we waited for this project for a very long time.”
Another resident, Thulani Mthimkhulu (52), said water shedding has become their daily bread, and they still struggle to adjust.
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City of uMhlathuze Mayor Xolani Ngwezi said this project has caused the municipality a huge headache, as there were lots of irregularities with the contract.
Municipal manager Nkosenye Zulu said they terminated the contract with the previous company because they failed to deliver.
“When we took over we found that the company was awarded over R100 million for the project by the previous administration. But when we did our investigation, we discovered that projects like these cost nothing more than R70 million. That was the first problem we encountered,” he said.
He said that the municipality had paid the company some portion of the money to do the work but when they got to the site nothing was done, despite months of having a contract with the company.
“We had to terminate the contract and get new people to do the job. They are supposed to start on Monday, 17 April and the project will be finished in three months’ time,” said Zulu.
