GEORGE NEWS - News from our Municipality:
Vandalism of electrical infrastructure
The municipality is deeply concerned about the increase in vandalism to electrical infrastructure in the George area.
There has been a distressing rise in the number of cases registered at police stations. More than 200 theft and vandalism-related cases have been reported since the beginning of the 2022/2023 budget year.
The directorate had 81 open cases in the 2021/2022 budget year - and these are just those cases that the municipality has decided on pursuing, while the number of incidents runs to over 1 000 a year.
Repairing this damage to essential services costs the municipality - and ultimately the tax payer - hundreds of thousands of rands.
The municipality pleads with residents to help curb this social ill by reporting any instances of cable theft or vandalism immediately.
Smart card: your key to travelling
When Go George introduced the Smart Card system in 2018, the concept of tapping or scanning a card to board a bus was new to most of the passengers. Today, it is second nature.
A smart card is a plastic card with technology embedded that allow the card to be tapped and read by the top-up vendor device, kiosk device and on-bus card reader.
When the card is damaged, the devices will not be able to read the card and it won't scan at all. If this happens you will have to visit one of the Go George Smart Card kiosks where a diagnostic test is done to determine the issue. Like any other smart card and bank card, the Go George Smart Card is valid for five years.
After that, you will need to buy a new card, or use another valid card in your possession, which will save you money.
Meul sewage pump station upgrade
The first phase of the Meul sewage pump station upgrade, valued at approximately R31,67m, has been completed.
In recent years, this pump station, which is one of George's most critical pump stations, experienced frequent and costly breakdowns that threatened the integrity of the sewerage system it serves, as well as the surrounding environment.
The pump station now boasts more energy-efficient pumps with higher capacity that will meet future flow needs. It also has additional reliability after an emergency power generator has been added to keep the installation operational during load shedding.
Phase 2 of the upgrade will follow shortly and will include mechanical equipment at the inlet works to remove screenings and grit automatically, and the replacement of a portion of the rising main. Site access and security will also be improved as part of the upgrade.
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