Joburg Water plans to spend R75-million in the current financial year providing water and sanitation, in a move to restore the dignity of people living in informal settlements.
The plan is to provide 4 834 households in informal settlements across the City with access to basic water and sanitation by the end of June. The entity has had its budget for the provision of basic services increased, enabling it to create hundreds of jobs in the process.
At a handover ceremony of ablution facilities in the Zamimpilo informal settlement in Riverlea on Tuesday, 29 January, Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba said access to sanitation was a basic human requirement, contributing to human dignity and a good quality of life.
“Sanitation is an essential tool in the fight against poverty and inequality. It is for this reason that I am proud to be handing over these facilities,” said Mayor Mashaba.
The facilities in Zamimpilo will benefit about 1 900 households in the informal settlement, west of Johannesburg.
Joburg Water, the municipal-owned entity responsible for providing water and sanitation, spearheaded the project in Zamimpilo, which cost R4-million. It is part of the entity’s Basic Services Programme, designed to lessen backlogs in the provision of basic services in informal settlements.
The project included the connection of toilets in the Zamimpilo informal settlement to the existing sewer infrastructure and the installation of solar panels for lighting. The project has taken six months to complete. It created jobs for members of the community near Riverlea, including 30 labourers, 20 facilitators and three security personnel.
Joburg Water said the completed ablution facilities were part of the first phase of the project, which will be followed by a second phase to cover a further 2 659 households at the end of February.
The entity said it had managed to save money in the previous financial year, which has been reinvested in disadvantaged communities like Zamimpilo, in an effort to enhance service delivery there.
Over 72 000 households in informal settlements are serviced by Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrines, individual connections or ablution blocks. Through the installation of ablution facilities, the City plans to eradicate the use of chemical toilets as the only option. By July this year, this backlog will be reduced by at least 2 000 households.
“This pro-poor administration will continue to bring back dignity to its residents by tackling basic infrastructure backlogs because investment in infrastructure is an investment in the future,” said Mashaba.
