UMDONI Municipality has announced the adoption of a new budget which it has dubbed a ‘people-centered service delivery budget’ amounting to some R356-million. The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget were announced at council last Wednesday by Umdoni Municipality mayor, Thabani Dube. Various service delivery projects will be funded by a capital budget of R44.1-million and operational programmes will be boosted by some R312.4-m.
“The municipality has identified major projects to be catered for by the capital allocation. These include the electrification of households and infills, and the construction of community halls and sports fields. It also includes the implementation of rural housing projects in Amandawe, Vulamehlo and Amahlongwa, and rural roads will be upgraded,” said Umdoni Municipality communications officer, Sphelele Cele.
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The budget will, according to the municipality, prioritise the eradication of service delivery backlogs as well as addressing the rehabilitation of the deteriorating infrastructure throughout all of the municipality’s 19 wards.
“Over and above these projects, equal attention will be given to the maintenance of streetlights, roads, verges, community and beach facilities amongst others,” said Ms Cele.
Despite the challenges faced by Umdoni Municipality after its amalgamation with Vulamehlo Municipality, Umdoni said it was aware of these challenges and realised that the demand for service delivery had grown.
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Ms Cele explained that although the municipality had limited resources, it vowed to continue with its efforts to reach a 100 percent coverage of access to basic services throughout the wards in its care through the maximum utilisation of the service delivery budget.
Municipal rates have been reviewed, and tariffs/rates have been set at 5.2 percent, service charges at three percent and rental facilities at two percent.
Some R800 000 had been earmarked for the mayor’s new vehicle, R785 000 will be spent on computers and laptops, and R15 000 on air-conditioners and a printer for the mayor and deputy mayor.
Sports and recreation has been allocated a R600 000 vehicle. A further R29.15-m will be spent on rural roads, halls and sports fields.
The Democratic Alliance does not approve of the budget however, saying that council had given ‘no consideration to the comments submitted during the public participation process of the IDP and budget’.
“It was an immensely disappointing event given the dismissive manner in which public comments were dealt with. The officials provided a list of glib responses without any attempt to give credence or recognition to what was requested. The time and effort that went into the public participation exercise was rendered meaningless and ratepayers can expect more of the same,” said Ward 10 DA councillor, Eddie Baptie.
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According to Cllr Baptie, some R8-m had been allocated to urban areas for roads and stormwater maintenance while R2-m had been allocated to streetlights.
He said this was inadequate to address the severe damages and backlogs, given the magnitude of the problem.
“The stated intention is to spend R9.5-m on equipment and machinery and to repair the urban roads in-house. Without the capacity and operational systems in place, this plan is likely to suffer the same fate as the in-house verge maintenance. After it failed, it became necessary to outsource the service again. Hence we now see verges cut to reasonable standards for the first time in years.” As for capital projects in urban areas, Cllr Baptie pointed out there was only one – the informal trader’s market at Umzinto which had been allocated R1-m.
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