The Department of Water and Sanitation is intent on ensuring that the promise to resolve the challenge of sewer spillages in the Vaal is kept.

As was indicated and through the urgent bids that were adjudicated recently, the Department is pleased to announce that the engineering companies have been appointed.

The engineers have also started the inspections that will give them a proper perspective of the work at hand. The inspections will result in relevant plans being crafted and shared with the DWS.

Contractors have also been appointed and are already preparing their compliance documents which include registering with the Department of Labour and Employment, appointing safety officers, as well as ensuring that the safety files are lodged with the DWS.

All of this is important to ensure that once the work begins in earnest, there will be no stopstarts due to non-compliance.

The communities of the Vaal deserve to have their lives bettered and this has to be a critical outcome of this process.