By Nkhensani Chauke
The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality plans to spend over 40% of the R361 million informal settlements grant to accelerate essential service delivery and stop under spending.
Human settlements MMC Thembinkosi Mafana said the metro was working with senior officials and project managers to ensure that the spending and quality of the work tally with the timeframes were stipulated in the process plan for the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG).
“We want to push all our efforts to spend at least 40% of the allocated funds by the December 2024 break so that by January when we reopen , we accelerate performance even more,” Mafana said in statement on Wednesday.
During the week the Human Settlements Standing Committee visited numerous active sites that are financed by the grant, including the Arlington Landfill Site, where fencing has cost R15 million.
The committee also visited housing delivery sites funded for R50 million and roads and storm water infrastructure, and inspected the electrification of shacks and temporary houses.
“The grant covers a number of deliverables that form part of holistic human settlements, such as servicing sites, relocation of communities from vulnerable areas, provision of services like water, electricity and sanitation to the development of parks and creation of a safe and sustainable environment,” Mafana said.
He said that the municipality’s job must not end at approving budgets at the standing committee and council.
“We must follow through in spending, quality of work and monitor adherence to timeframes,” he said
He added that the ISUPG site visits, which were part of the MMC and the committee oversight responsibility for the current financial year, would become a standard item in financial year planning for human settlements.
“Our people are living in distress in flood plains and other unliveable conditions, we must then move with speed in relocating them and provide them a decent life,” Mafana said.
Inside Metros