The City Times undertook a site meeting at the Northmead water tower complex along with MMC of Water, Sanitation and Energy Senzi Sibeko to determine when construction will be completed.
The R44-million project was undertaken in May 2018 but has been marred in controversy with the deadline for completion constantly being moved forward.
During the visit, Sibeko confirmed that the completion date for the tower is scheduled for June 30 and that the work carried out by the current contractor, FM Infrastructure, is on schedule and within budget.
Once completed, the tower will increase the current water storage capacity from 1.1 Ml by an additional 5.5 Ml.
However, Sibeko and his team cautioned residents that the completed tower, which will be the second-largest on the continent, is not a miracle solution to water issues currently plaguing areas such as Goedeburg, Rynfield, Brentwood Park, Farrarmere, Northmead and Airfield.
“The building of this tower, thus increasing our current water storage capabilities from 24 hours to 36 hours, is only one element within the infrastructure upgrade that we have undertaken,” said Thulani Mthemba, acting divisional head of projects.
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“Once this structure is completed, we will refurbish the existing tower followed by replacing approximately 200km of old and redundant feeding pipes.
“These projects will take between two to three years to complete.”
Clr Lornette Joseph noted that residents of Farrarmere and surrounds have expressed their frustrations due to lengthy and continuous water supply interruptions, with the trip switch at the current pump station being slated as being faulty.
“Currently the pump station and the control panel run on two separate electrical grids, meaning that an outage on one of these grids will have a negative effect on the water supply,” she said.
“I have approached the MMC with the request that both units be placed on the same grid. By doing so we can effectively minimise the interruption of services until the new pump station, along with its own generation capacity, is fully operational.
“We also now have a team within the area who do daily inspections to ensure that the pumps are online and to respond to outages resulting in a quicker turn-around time.”
Sibeko hailed the near completion of the tower as a testament to how cooperative relationships and synergy between stakeholders can overcome setbacks.
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