“When the entire scheme is completed, it will provide water services to over 281 864 people within the service area and reduce the water backlog in the District Municipality by 30%,” said Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, at the launch of the Mthonjaneni Bulk Water Project in the Mthonjaneni Local Municipality in the Uthunguli District Municipality in Richard’s Bay, KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday 24 August 2013.

Close to 700 households will benefit from Phase 1 of the project – which was launched on Saturday – with an estimated 4 478 households expected to benefit from the scheme when both Phase 1 and 2 are complete. Phase 1 consists of a 20Ml/day Water Treatment Plant and all related infrastructure, as well as balancing tanks and reservoirs. The project has seen a R149,4 million investment from the Department of Water Affairs to date.

According to Molewa, the scheme will also ensure the delivery of sustainable basic water services and the enhancement of economic development towards achieving the national services target by 2014.

“When this District Municipality was created, it had 81%  and 89% backlogs of water and sanitation respectively. Through our dedicated and collective effort of the national, provincial and local governments, the backlog has been reduced to 41% for basic water and 55% for sanitation by last year.

“We estimate that we require about R3,81 billion to eradicate these remaining backlogs,” said Molewa.