Phone apps will alert council to issues

Fawzia Peer

Fawzia Peer

Published Oct 28, 2014

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Durban - Is there a pothole in your street?

Soon, there will be an app for that.

From next week, eThekwini residents will be able to lodge complaints and access their billing information from their smartphones and tablets through an application that can be downloaded from Play Store for Android devices and the App Store for Apple devices.

The app will allow ward councillors and ratepayers to alert the municipality to problems such as potholes and water leaks in their area by simply taking a picture of it and sending it to the relevant department.

The head of the city’s Revenue Department, Peet du Plessis, said further developments on thae app would allow residents to also send in meter readings, general communication and direct access to bylaws, policies and bill inquiries.

“There is no direct financial impact to council, and the app is designed to be developed in future with no cost to council.”

Fawzia Peer, chairwoman of the finance committee, said the new app would launch the city into the digital age.

“The benefits of the new smart city app enables citizens access to a wide range of data and services, such as information about the city and emergency contact details, to receiving alerts related to municipal services, such as electricity, water and roads.”

Lilian Develing, chairwoman of the Confederation of Mistbelt Ratepayers and Residents’ Association, said she hoped that the app would be user-friendly.

“Everything this app offers is already available to people anyway, as many people get their statements sent to them via e-mail, and you can take pictures of problems and send it directly to the municipality,” she said.

Dharmanand Nowbuth, chairman of the Isipingo Ratepayers Association, said he hoped that the app would speed up services.

aa“We hope that they would be able to attend to problems quicker now. We still wait far too long for the city to repair potholes, so hopefully this will make them more efficient.

“While we welcome the new development, sadly this app will only benefit a few people, as many low-income earners cannot afford a smartphone, and they will never have access to this app,” he said.

Daily News

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