Motorists in the Mnquma local municipality can breath a sigh of relief as the dusty streets of the small municipality are set to receive a major facelift.
Mnquma has allocated R57-million towards road improvement and construction as well as for a new sports field and community hall.
As a category B municipality, Mnquma falls under the jurisdiction of the Amathole district municipality (ADM) and comprises an amalgamation of Butterworth, Ngqamakhwe and Centane.
The announcement was made by Mnquma mayor Baba Ganjana during his state of the municipality address (Soma) on Wednesday.
“We commit a capital budget of R57-million funded by the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to construct 60km of new access roads, a sports field, community hall and upgraded taxi rank,” Ganjana said.
The mayor said an additional R13-million had been set aside for road maintenance, street lights and community hall refurbishment.
Ganjana said yesterday that because Mnquma was a rural municipality, the bulk of its roads were in a poor state.
“By paying attention to rural roads, we are addressing the issue of public participation in government issues,” he said.
“The situation of our rural roads are made worse by bad weather conditions. Across our jurisdiction we get flooding a lot and our rural roads get affected,” Ganjana said.
He said the allocation was in line with the government’s National Development Programme (NDP).
“The NDP acknowledges the importance of good rural infrastructure as an economic driver through improving access, which in turn enables and attracts investment.
“Easy access to our areas means that investors will find it easy to invest in the Mnquma local municipality,” he added.
Butterworth Taxi Association vice-chairman Songezo Mgweba welcomed the move.
“The construction of new and better access to roads means our trips are going to be shorter, meaning we will save on fuel. Secondly, this means that our minibus taxis will no longer suffer from bad road infrastructure,” Mgweba said.
Earlier this year, the Daily Dispatch reported that the municipality had embarked on a three- phase project to rehabilitate township roads.
The project, which began in January, will take three years.
The first phase is expected to be completed before the end of June.
Ganjana said the municipality also planned to formalise what tracts of land were for commercial and residential use.
“This will be guided by the spatial development framework and land use management scheme.
“R262500 has been set aside for land use management activities,” he said. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
Mayor declares R57m facelift for Mnquma roads
Mnquma has allocated R57-million towards road improvement and construction as well as for a new sports field and community hall.
As a category B municipality, Mnquma falls under the jurisdiction of the Amathole district municipality (ADM) and comprises an amalgamation of Butterworth, Ngqamakhwe and Centane.
The announcement was made by Mnquma mayor Baba Ganjana during his state of the municipality address (Soma) on Wednesday.
“We commit a capital budget of R57-million funded by the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to construct 60km of new access roads, a sports field, community hall and upgraded taxi rank,” Ganjana said.
The mayor said an additional R13-million had been set aside for road maintenance, street lights and community hall refurbishment.
Ganjana said yesterday that because Mnquma was a rural municipality, the bulk of its roads were in a poor state.
“By paying attention to rural roads, we are addressing the issue of public participation in government issues,” he said.
“The situation of our rural roads are made worse by bad weather conditions. Across our jurisdiction we get flooding a lot and our rural roads get affected,” Ganjana said.
He said the allocation was in line with the government’s National Development Programme (NDP).
“The NDP acknowledges the importance of good rural infrastructure as an economic driver through improving access, which in turn enables and attracts investment.
“Easy access to our areas means that investors will find it easy to invest in the Mnquma local municipality,” he added.
Butterworth Taxi Association vice-chairman Songezo Mgweba welcomed the move.
“The construction of new and better access to roads means our trips are going to be shorter, meaning we will save on fuel. Secondly, this means that our minibus taxis will no longer suffer from bad road infrastructure,” Mgweba said.
Earlier this year, the Daily Dispatch reported that the municipality had embarked on a three- phase project to rehabilitate township roads.
The project, which began in January, will take three years.
The first phase is expected to be completed before the end of June.
Ganjana said the municipality also planned to formalise what tracts of land were for commercial and residential use.
“This will be guided by the spatial development framework and land use management scheme.
“R262500 has been set aside for land use management activities,” he said. — siphem@dispatch.co.za
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