Question NW829 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
16 April 2021 - NW829
Lees, Mr RA to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
(1)Whether, with reference to the master plans for the (a) supply of bulk water and (b) waste water in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, the master plans were approved by her department; if not, why not; if so, (i) on what date were the master plans approved, (ii) what are the details of the budget allocations towards each master plan since each plan was approved and (iii) what is the implementation progress of each master plan as at 31 December 2020; (2) whether the master plans have been implemented; if not, what are the reasons for the failure to implement; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1)(a)(b) The Uthukela District Municipality (DM) developed a water services master plan (water and wastewater) with the support of the DBSA in 2017. However, the master plan was not submitted to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) for approval.
(i) The master plan has therefore not been approved by the DWS.
In terms of the Water Services Act (Act 109 of 1997), a Water Services Authority is required to submit a water services development plan (WSDP) to the DWS for the department to consider the plan before it is adopted. The Uthukela DM last submitted an updated WSDP in 2018.
Notwithstanding this, a number of water and sanitation feasibility studies for water and sanitation projects included in the WSDP have been submitted to the DWS for recommendation and/or approval. These plans are for projects to be implemented under the various grant funds i.e. Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG) and the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG). The table below details the projects recommended in 2019/20 and 2020/21 for implementation.
(ii)(iii) No funding is allocated for the District’s Master Plan but funding is allocated by the Uthukela DM for projects included in their WSDP and master plan pending finalisation of feasibility studies. The budget allocations from the MIG, WSIG and RBIG grants to the Uthukela DM are indicated in the table below. The expenditure on each programme is included.
(2) Projects and interventions identified in the master plan are being implemented within the available funding allocations of the MIG, WSIG and RBIG grants as detailed above.