Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis visited a sewer pipe replacement project in Gugulethu today to mark the milestone of the City completing its 26th kilometre of pipe replacement upgrades this year alone. By the halfway mark of this financial year, the City had already replaced more than double the kilometres of pipeline compared to the previous year. Read more below:
The City is on track to exceed its target of doubling sewer pipe replacement to 50km for the 22/23 financial year ending June 2023. This is part of a major sewer pipe focus which will see 100km being replaced every year.
‘It was a pleasure to join teams doing sewer pipe replacement work in Gugulethu this morning. This is a crucial part of delivering better services to every community, laying the foundation not only for economic growth, but for dignity and a healthy environment for all residents.
The City will more than double sewer pipe replacement from 25km to 50km this financial year. In fact, we have just allocated another R20 million in the adjustment budget as we are set to exceed our target by 6km. Over three years, R755 million will go to quadrupling sewer pipe replacement across Cape Town from 25km to 100km annually.
‘Pipe replacement is part of a strategy to bring down sewer spills over time, including major bulk sewer upgrades, proactive cleaning of sewer lines, resourcing of sewer spill response teams, and digital telemetry systems for early warnings on sewer spills. These interventions have led to a 30% downward trend in reported spills over the last two years based on preliminary data. Our forthcoming Reactive Incident Management System (RIMA) will help us track progress even more closely by digitising the coordination of sewer spill responsiveness,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
Besides the Gugulethu project, teams are working on a city-wide rotational basis, with active pipe replacement projects currently in Gugulethu, Scottsdene, Epping, Bellville, Tokai, Dennedal, Sweet Valley, Strand, Maitland, and Uitsig.
The Mayor said the City was also on track to meet its bulk sewer cleaning and jetting target of 200km by June 2023. Additional human resources have further been recruited for sewer preventative maintenance and rapid response teams.
Major water and sanitation budget increases have been put in place under the Mayoral Priority Programme.
Over three years, R860m will go to major upgrades to bulk sewer upgrades to the Cape Flats, Milnerton, Philippi, and Gordon’s Bay lines.
The City is also set to make a seven-fold increase in budgets for sewer pump station upgrades, from R70 million in 2022, ramping up to R400 million in 2024, and R500 million in 2025. We have already installed early warning telemetric alarm systems at all sewer pump stations to help detect faults.
This forms part of a ten-year R120 billion portfolio of planned infrastructure projects for economic growth unveiled by Mayor Hill-Lewis earlier in February.
Source: City Of Cape Town