The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality budgeted R20 million for the electrification of informal settlements and state subsidised houses for the current financial year (2014/2015).

This is part of the realisation of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s objective to provide sustainable electricity to all residents living in informal settlements and state subsidised houses, according to Infrastructure, Engineering, Electricity and Energy Standing Committee Chairperson Andile Mfunda.

“This means that we would like to electrify and connect 2 173 households as per our 7-year Human Settlement Plan.

“Our team is working in line with the housing programme and only connects completed state subsidised houses and shacks occupied by legal beneficiaries on serviced or pegged sites,” Mfunda explained.

Council approved a total capital budget allocation of R20 009 510 of which R18 million is funded by the Department of Energy.

Mfunda said he is pleased that the municipality’s implementation since July (the beginning of the financial year) as a total of 683 new connections were installed at a cost of R7.6 million, but encouraged the officials to work even harder to reach the intended target for this year.

Some of the projects currently in progress are Motherwell NU29 (Phase 5, 264 shacks), Chatty Extension 1380 (Phase 2, 456 RDP houses), Wells Estate (Phase 3, 300 shacks), Missionvale (Phase 2, 4 and 5, 100 shacks), Rosedale Extension (Phase 1, 400 shacks) and Joe Slovo in Uitenhage (Phase 2, 280 shacks).

A contractor will be appointed for the electrification of 199 shacks in MK Silvertown Phase 2 soon after the commencement of civil construction work.

Mfunda said the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has a good story to tell when it comes to housing delivery and electrification, but this fact is seldom recognised by the community it serves.