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GARDEN ROUTE NEWS & VIDEO - During a recent visit to the proposed regional landfill site in Mossel Bay, the ANC MEC and constituency head of this coastal town, Pierre Uys, expressed concern about the development of the project.

The landfill site near Petro SA is one of the places that the oversight committee of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, of which Uys is a member, visited with the aim of providing feedback on the progress of government-funded projects.

Uys described the complexity of the financing of the site as problematic. He is concerned that negotiations and approvals will not be finalised by the time the current usage agreement expires with PetroSA at the end of this year. Uys also said it appears that no agreement has been made with either the provincial or the national treasury for financial approval, and asked questions about an administration fee of 10 percent that will be charged by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM).

In a panel discussion on Tuesday afternoon by several managers of GRDM including Mayor Memory Booysen and Municipal Manager Monde Stratu, an overview of the project was provided and answers given to concerns raised by Uys.

Manager of Community Services Clive Africa said the cutoff date will be met by January 2019. "We are on par, we are on schedule and we will commence in August 2019."

R11-million to cover costs
Africa said the monetary value of the 10 percent is R11-million. This would be sufficient to recover the cost to the GRDM for the establishment of the facility, which includes a variety of costly processes and the procuring of the required property. "It cost GRDM nearly R6-million to buy the property - that was all for our account," said Africa.

"We have costs to cover. We ask a normal administration fee of 10 percent. We've been generous; if we calculate our real costs it would be nearly 30 percent. But we have a responsibility towards the B-municipalities and that's why we've reduced that," said Africa.

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On a question how this admin fee of R11-million will influence the taxpayer, Stratu confirmed that the ten percent is already included in the B-municipalities' budgets and that taxpayers are already paying for it. "This is no longer a debate between the district municipality and the B-municipalities. They have agreed that they will make provision in their budgets," said Booysen. 

"The reason why we couldn't give a round figure is because it will be proportionate in terms of volumes and distance to the site. Mossel Bay's figure would look different to that of Bitou."

Four B-municipalities - Mossel Bay, Knysna, George and Bitou - have committed to a 10-year contract period.

According to Africa, both Hessequa and Oudtshoorn indicated that they would like to be part of the project. The public private partnership (PPP) tender process will be completed by the end of August. The site handover will take place on 6 December 2018, whereafter the construction part will commence. The fencing of the premises and building of the infrastructure will be completed by the end of June next year, with the first waste cell and the hazardous waste cell completed around August 2019.

The project will be finalised in March 2020.

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