IDP budget for Duduza
Duduza - Ekurhuleni MMC for Housing Clr Queen Duba delivered the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) budget last Wednesday in Duduza's Monte Mothloung Hall.
Community members came to hear how much money the municipality is planning to spend on the community of Duduza.
Duba started off highlighting the core services offered by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality to the community.
Since 2011, 22 000 new electricity connections were made in Ekurhuleni and 27 119 additional households provided with water.
Two hundred and seventy house will be built by June 2015 around Ekurhuleni.
The overall operating budget for this coming financial year stands at R31.5-billion, showing a 10.5% increase from last years R28.5-b budget.
R2,9 -b is ring fenced for the Ekurhuleni Community Empowerment Package to assist youth owned businesses, women and people with disabilities, black industrialist and community job creation initiatives.
R11.8-b has been allocated for water, electricity and sewage, R6.1-b for salaries, R2.7-b for repairs and maintenance, R1.4-b for bad debts, R2,-b for depreciation, R3-b for government grants and R4.4-b for other expenditures.
Tariff increases saw water being the highest with a 14.5% increase.
Duba mentioned that electricity increase is the lowest in comparison to other municipalities in the country.
The total amount of debt owed by Duduza is R290.8-million, which is an increase from last year’s R289.4-m.
This means a collection rate increase of 15.9% from 7.3%.
The high outstanding debt results in limited resources making it difficult for the metro to accommodate all the community’s needs within one financial year.
The number of indigents (poor households) stands at 3977 this year, which is an increase from last year’s 1152.
“I doubt that these stats are correct, because I’m pretty aware that there are more poor households in the community of Duduza than what we have on record,” says Duba.
People who can not afford to pay the municipality are urged to go to Customer Care Centres and apply as indigents.
At the end of the presentation, community members were given the opportunity to comment and ask questions.
Residents raised the fact that art and culture is neglected and needs more attention, and that there is a lack of skills development centres in Duduza.
In closing, Duba stated that some of the IDP needs which are not covered in the 2015/16 capital budget will be addressed through the Lungile Mtshali Community Development Programme.
