By Mpho Manyaapelo
The water affairs department and Magalies Water have promised to make sure that shortage of water in the North West’s Madibeng Local Municipality becomes a thing of the past.
This was revealed on Friday at the Brits Water Treatment Works project upgrade in Brits, North West.
Acting General Manager for project management at Magalies water, Jimmy Leburu said an additional 20 mega liters would be provided by the state utility.
He believes that will alleviate the area’s water challenges. ” The project commenced in 2015 and is to update the plant from a sixty to eighty megaliter plant and to improve the treatment process so that we can deal with the water quality issues that the municipality is experiencing.
“There have been challenges with the project during its implementation, where there was side stoppage due to community unrest and the community wanting the local participation. We had several engagements with the community leaders, which was resolved where we were able to get the local participation, employing around hundred and seventy-eight local labour and four major sub-contractors from the locals,” said Leburu.
Leburu has added that they were accelerating the project as the contractual completion is for March 2023; however, due to the mandate they were given, they must push to conclude the project by December this year.
He also claimed that the area’s old water problems were historical, saying the project will bring twenty megalitre capacity, which will have an impact on people who were not receiving water at all as they were trying to minimize the shortfalls or rather the supply-demand challenges that the municipality was experiencing.
A delegation of the National Council of Provinces and members of the Northwest Legislature recently visited the area and warned the local municipality to improve water provision or face serious action.