The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) has attained several achievements in the Edenvale Ward in the fields of city planning, disaster and emergency management services, finance and facilities and real estate.
The achievements were revealed when Ekurhuleni’s executive mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, lead his executive committee into communities to report on the status of service delivery through the Mayoral Izimbizo programme.
The two-day mayoral Izimbizo was used to report back on the municipal performance for the 2013 to 2014 financial year and also provided area-specific ground breaking announcements regarding the 2014 to 2015 financial year.
The Izimbizo report revealed that city planning in the Edenvale ward has improved after the approval of the Edenvale City Improvement District for the Edenvale CBD.
This represents the first city improvement district being established in terms of the City Improvement Districts Act in Ekurhuleni.
It is aimed to serve as a catalyst, that could through a partnership between the private businesses and property owners in the Edenvale CBD and the municipality, contribute towards the upgrading and regeneration of the Edenvale CBD.
According to the report, the improvement is likely to pave the way for other city improvement districts to be established in other parts of the EMM as well.
The Izimbizo report revealed that the EMM’s disaster and emergency management services has improved after the department expanded the services and information call centre located in Bedfordview to accommodate 50 more working spaces. The call centre serves the entire EMM area and its expansion created 250 permanent jobs.
According to the report, some of the challenges the disaster and emergency management services faced included the issue of residential fires in the EMM and the lack of awareness of the EMM’s disaster and emergency management services phone numbers. As a result, several communities still call the wrong numbers for emergencies.
The Izimbizo report revealed that the EMM’s finance department has achieved an increase in debt collection and payment levels. The finance department has also been successful in the blocking of non-paying customers.
A front portion of rates hall in Edenvale has also been completed. @BedfordJourno
