GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - Knysna Municipality is one of four B-municipalities in the Garden Route to have committed to a 10-year contract regarding the new proposed landfill site that will be built in Mossel Bay as from 2019, but while the commitment has already been made there is concern that financing issues may curtail the development.
The demand for a new regional landfill site, servicing numerous so-called B-municipalities within the Garden Route, became most apparent in May 2016 when Petro SA announced that their site would no longer accept any waste from January 2017 after the site reached the end of its lifespan.
During a recent visit to the proposed regional landfill site in Mossel Bay, the ANC MEC and constituency head of the town, Pierre Uys, expressed concern about the development of the project.
'Complex financing'
The site near Petro SA is one of the places that the oversight committee of the Western Cape provincial parliament, of which Uys is a member, visited with the aim of providing feedback on the progress of government-funded projects.
Uys described the complexity of the financing of the site as problematic. He is concerned that negotiations and approvals will not be finalised by the time the current usage agreement expires with PetroSA at the end of this year. He also said it appears that no agreement has been made with either the provincial or the national treasury for financial approval, and asked questions about an administration fee of 10% that will be charged by the Garden Route District Municipality (Garden Route DM).
In a panel discussion on Tuesday last week by several managers of Garden Route DM including mayor Memory Booysen and municipal manager Monde Stratu, an overview of the project was provided and answers given to concerns raised by Uys. Community Services manager Clive Africa said the cutoff date will be met by January 2019. "We are on par, we are on schedule and we will commence in August 2019."
R11-million to cover costs
Africa said the monetary value of the 10% is R11-million. This would be sufficient to recover the cost to the Garden Route DM for the establishment of the facility, which includes a variety of costly processes and the procuring of the required property. "It cost Garden Route DM nearly R6-million to buy the property – that was all for our account," said Africa.
"We have costs to cover. We ask a normal administration fee of 10%. We've been generous – if we calculate our real costs it would be nearly 30%. But we have a responsibility towards the B-municipalities and that's why we've reduced that," said Africa.
On a question how this administration fee will influence the taxpayer, Stratu confirmed that the 10% is already included in the B-municipalities' budgets and that taxpayers are already paying for it.
Site handover in December
"This is no longer a debate between the district municipality and the B-municipalities. They have agreed that they will make provision in their budgets," said Booysen. "The reason why we couldn't give a round figure is because it will be proportionate in terms of volumes and distance to the site. Mossel Bay's figure would look different to that of Bitou."
• The other B-municipalities that committed to a 10-year contract period are Mossel Bay, George and Bitou. According to Africa, both Hessequa and Oudtshoorn indicated that they would like to be part of the project. The public-private partnership (PPP) tender process was set to be completed by the end of August. The site handover is scheduled to take place on 6 December, whereafter the construction part will commence. The fencing of the premises and building of the infrastructure will be completed by the end of June next year, with the first waste cell and the hazardous waste cell completed around August 2019. The project is set to be finalised in March 2020.
'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'
