CoCT's water and sanitation directorate receives budget provision of R4.9 billion for current financial year

CAPE TOWN - Amid ongoing concerns about flooding, sewer overflows and adequate sanitation, the City of Cape Town’s water and sanitation directorate has received a budget provision of R4.9 billion for the current financial year.

The city has allocated R1.25 billion of the budget to upgrade Cape Town's ailing sewerage network.

In his budget speech, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis told council there were too many places where sewage overflows are a daily norm, and children play surrounded by waste.

City Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said he was excited about the R1.25 billion allocated for sewerage projects in Cape Town for the current financial year.

"This means more pipes, more pipe replacements, it means more pump station replacements, more proactive mechanisms put in place to make sure our network works as it should work."  

Associate Professor for Epidemiology at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Dvora Davey, said the sewerage upgrade was long overdue.

"When we see a community where there's open faecal matter in the street, in the park, in people's homes, the sewerage system has failed and it's been failing now for the past decade."

Davey said an urgent solution was needed to avoid a public health emergency.