I recently attended a breakfast engagement with KZN business which was attended by MECs and many organisations representing business in the province. The engagement was hosted by the KZN Growth Coalition and was a welcomed opportunity to meet with the business leadership to strengthen collaboration and coordination for the benefit of the people of the province and our City. This is one of several engagements I have had in recent weeks as I set out to meet with various stakeholders, including investors in the City. I want to commend investors for their continued commitment to the city of Durban which is demonstrated by the high-level of investments they have injected through catalytic projects and other forms of investments. 

While we appreciate these investments, we are not oblivious to the challenges that the business sector has raised which includes issues of water and sanitation infrastructure, beach water quality, reliable electricity supply, high levels of crime, cleanliness, and delays in approving development applications. In an effort to gain a deeper understanding and to tackle these challenges, I have had extensive engagements with the administration through the City Manager. We all agree that poor infrastructure is an obstacle to the City’s economic growth, hinders development, and will drive away investment. In response we have ongoing engagements with uMngeni/uThukela Water to resolve water challenges.

I am satisfied with the plans presented to me to address the concerns of both our domestic and business customers. As the leadership of the City, we are closely monitoring progress on the following water infrastructure projects which, oncecompleted, will provide much-needed relief to affected communities. This includes the commissioning of the Northern Aqueduct to improve water supply in the northern areas and the upgrading of the Ntuzuma Pumpstation. We are also upgrading the Southern Aqueduct and expect water supply to improve in the southern areas by December. We are also upgrading 10 wastewater treatment works which handle 90 percent of sewerage ineThekwini. And as a result of the ongoing sanitation infrastructure repairs, we are beginning to see great improvement in the quality of effluent these wastewater treatment plants are discharging. This has drastically reduced the levels of contamination at our beaches. To address the growing water demand in the City, we are investing in three major infrastructure projects to increase our water resources.

This includes the R28 billion Upper Umkhomazi Dam which is due for completion in 2032. We are pleased that off-take agreements have been signed with the Department of Water and Sanitation, Umgeni-uThukela Water and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority to commence with the project. We are also investing in water reuse and desalination projects which will be ready by 2030.