N West making progress in eliminating mud houses

Acting North West Premier Nono Maloyi has during his State of the Province Address (SOPA) announced that the province has allocated R198 million to eradicate 1 356 mud houses.

The Acting Premier said on Tuesday that of these, 579 units have already been delivered.

Although there are still challenges, Maloyi said the province has experienced unprecedented levels of development in the last 30 years.

He told the provincial legislature that the number of households had increased from 591 145 in 1996 to over 1.14 million in 2022. 

This means that 88% of houses in the North West are now considered formal housing. 

“Honourable Members, from 2019 to 2023, we have constructed 19 307 houses. By the end of 2023, we had delivered 2 768 houses,” he told them. 

In addition, he announced that the provincial government has now cleared all the hurdles that delayed the Deelpan floods project and reported that 104 houses will be completed at the end of next month.

The Acting Premier said 317 more houses would be built following the donation of land by Kgosi Kogodi Molete of Bakolobeng and his traditional council.

He was also looking forward to launching the R2.6 billion N14 mixed-use development project in Ventersdorp in the coming weeks. 

The development will see the installation of bulk services for 400 sites and create over 600 jobs for locals. 

“The small town of Ventersdorp which comes from a bad history of occupation by a right-wing racist group called AWB will never be the same again. We are restoring the dignity of our people,” he said.

Meanwhile, the integrated accelerated service delivery approach, Thuntsha Lerole Programme, has to date delivered 6 283 title deeds to beneficiaries across the four districts.

Water

In addition, over 80% of households in the province have access to piped water either inside their dwellings, yards or community stands, as compared to only 20% in 1996.

Last year, the provincial government, in cooperation with the Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, launched the R106 million Dinokana Water Supply Intervention Project.

Maloyi said the North West was pushing ahead with the construction of a R36 million bulk water sewer pipeline at Agisanang township in the Tswaing Local Municipality is due for completion this year.

“We can report to the people of Madibeng Local Municipality that the Brits Water Treatment Plant will be completed by May this year,” he said. 

The completion of this project is expected to bring an additional 20 mega-litres that will ensure the provision of water in Oukasi, Mothotlung, Damonsville, Mmankau, Brits, Elandsrand, Letlhabile and Sonop.

The pipeline from Mafenya to Tlhabane will be completed in April.

He told members that the 25 mega-litre Tlhabane reservoir is 99% complete and will be handed over within the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, additional boreholes have been drilled and equipped for both the Rooigrond Waste Water Treatment Plant and water augmentation project to address water provision challenges in Mahikeng.

“The communities of Ramosadi and Seweding in Mahikeng have for the past few months been subjected to inhumane sewer spillage in their households and locality.

“We have intervened and a contractor has now returned to the site to complete the project of constructing a new pipeline to be delivered by Mahikeng Local Municipality and funded by Ngaka Modiri Molema District.” 

Maloyi also confirmed that all water leaks at Tigane and Hartebeesfontein have been fixed and now there is a stable water supply.

The construction of the over R200 million water pipeline from Pudumoe to Huhudi began in September last year to improve the bulk water supply. – SAnews.gov.za