Durban - The biggest chunk of the eThekwini Municipality’s R33.7 billion budget will be spent on infrastructure development projects including a multimillion-rand road connecting Durban harbour to Cato Ridge.
Cato Ridge is one of the strategic areas on the N3 transport route and has been earmarked as a dry port for industrial development.
The city’s final budget was passed by the council on Wednesday, with the DA voting against it.
DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango said their issue with the budget was not its targets or the money allocated to projects.
“It is the pilfering, corruption and fraud that goes along with this budget. It is the interference by senior management who settle contracts and tenders before they get to adjudication,” he said.
Treasurer Krish Kumar said the city had developed a draft Back of Port Local Area Plan which proposed changes to the future land use and zoning in the precincts around the extended port.
The city would contribute about R600 million towards the building of the proposed road.
Andrew Layman, the chief executive of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said research showed a dedicated freight road would be a major advantage to business
“It will improve logistical capability of the area and also assist with avoiding congestion,” he said.
Transnet spokesman Mboniso Sigonyela said construction of the road was a joint project between the city and Transnet to create an alternative road for freight.
“It will be a dedicated freight road not for normal traffic, and is aimed to reduce freight traffic. However, it is still in the feasibility stage and has to undergo an environmental impact assessment,” he said.
Kumar also said R2.9bn would be spent on repairs and maintenance of roads and ageing water and electricity infrastructure.
“This figure is above the national average and the highest spent among the metros,” he said.
From July 1, eThekwini residents and business will pay 6.9 percent more for rates, 5.5 percent for electricity, 6.9 percent for sanitation and 6.9 for refuse removal.
The increases for water usage are 9.5 percent for residents and 12.5 percent for business.
The rates base had only grown by “about 1 to 2 percent”. When rates, tariff and other service charges were revised, factors including current economic conditions and affordability of services were considered to ensure the city’s financial sustainability, he added.
DA councillor Rick Crouch said it was “shocking” that the forecast increase in the rates base was again 1 percent.
“That equates to a mere 4 000 new ratepayers. That percentage increase is not sustainable. Our rate randage continues to be the highest at 0.976 and our rates base, which stands at 450 000, is the lowest,” he said.
City officials said percentage increases from Umgeni Water and Eskom were above inflation and, because the tariff increases were determined by external bodies, the impact they had on the municipality’s tariff increases was beyond the city’s control.
City manager S’bu Sithole said the obvious need to increase revenue by increasing the rates base was being investigated.
“Initiatives that are currently on the cards include the commissioning of the western and northern aqueduct because rapid urbanisation north of Durban is pressurising existing infrastructure. A water shortage in the northern corridor is our biggest challenge,” he said.
Sithole said applications for estate and commercial developments were being shelved because there was no infrastructure to service new development in the north and west of the city.
The city would spend an additional R290m so that the western and northern aqueduct pipe replacement projects would be completed two years ahead of schedule.
“At the moment there is no assurance of water supply in certain parts of the city, but once the necessary infrastructure has been laid out, we expect a boom in development which translates to an expansion of the city’s rates base.”
Sithole said the city’s flagship housing project, Cornubia, would unlock development challenges and also eradicate informal settlements.
The Mercury