Joburg Water allocates R75m to eradicate pit latrines

The City of Johannesburg has announced an ambitious plan to provide 4,834 households in informal settlements across the city with access to basic water and sanitation by the end of June 2019.

In order to do this, Joburg Water plans to spend R75-million in the current financial year providing water and sanitation, in what they have called “a move to restore the dignity of people living in informal settlements.”

This is thanks to an increase in the budget for the provision of basic services which the city claims will also enable it to create hundreds of jobs in the process.

#JoburgWorks Cllr Mayor Herman Mashaba delivers a speech to the residents of Zamimpilo. @HermanMashaba pic.twitter.com/0TNDePvTS2

— Johannesburg Water (@JHBWater) January 29, 2019

At a handover ceremony of ablution facilities in the Zamimpilo informal settlement in Riverlea on Tuesday 29 January, executive mayor 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 Mashaba.

The City of Joburg (CoJ) reports that the facilities in Zamimpilo will benefit about 1,900 households in the informal settlement, west of Johannesburg.

#JoburgWorks Johannesburg Water spent R 4 million on the ablution project to provide toilets for the residents of Zamimpilo. pic.twitter.com/eWsCOvGVOT

— Johannesburg Water (@JHBWater) January 29, 2019

The R4-million project forms part of Joburg Water’s Basic Services Programme, designed to lessen backlogs in the provision of basic services in informal settlements and this one, in particular, took six months to complete.

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.

https://www.facebook.com/JohannesburgWater/videos/535079856977955/

CoJ further reports that 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 such as the one above, the City plans to eradicate the use of chemical toilets as the only option.

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