Pretoria - Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu says the collapsed R3 billion bulk water project meant to benefit 55 villages in and around Giyani in Mopani and Vhembe in Limpopo is an embarrassment to his department.
However, he said he was confident that the villagers will receive clean running water from the comfort of their homes by September this year, benefiting nearly 250 000 people.
This despite the project that started in 2014 but never got off the ground due to corruption allegations.
The project was meant to provide clean running water to the taps of villagers in Giyani in Mopani District of Limpopo, by building a 320km pipeline that would access water from the Nandoni Dam to connect with the villages.
But in 2018, following the corruption allegations, then president Jacob Zuma commissioned the Special Investigating Unit to investigate the operations of the project since its launch in 2014.
Mchunu, flanked by his deputy ministers David Mahlobo and Dikeledi Magadzi, took a walkabout of the Vondo water supply scheme, Mavembe pump station and the Nandoni-Nsami pipeline in the Vhembe district last week.
He said: “We are here to assure you that by September this year, there will be water available in your villages. I must say that the Giyani Water Project has been an embarrassment to both the Department of Water and Sanitation and to government as a whole, but we are determined to make sure this project brings water here in Giyani and the reticulation should also be to your households.”
He said there had been progress as 77.4% of the project had been done paving the way for it to be completed in September.
“We have witnessed the progress of the construction of raw water bulk water pipeline from Nandoni Dam to augment Nsami & Middle Letaba. The water project had been stagnant for a long time but currently 77.4% of work has been completed and should be completed in September this year.
“I am very satisfied that the work of bringing water to Giyani is on course. This is indeed in contrast to what I saw last year because the project was hopeless and was not moving at all”.
Mchunu said the department had installed a pipe that will take treated water from the Water Treatment Works to Malamulele and surrounding areas.
Pretoria News