The City of Cape Town can expect much-needed funding from the national and provincial governments after the water crisis affecting three provinces was declared a national disaster.
According to Lance Greyling, director of enterprise and investment for the City of Cape Town, it remained unclear how much funding would be available. Government could however now access special funds through Treasury reserved for national disasters. During the national budget speech in February, a total of R6 billion was also allocated for drought relief in the provinces affected.
Greyling told members of the Exporters’ Club Western Cape that the funding was critical considering the massive drop in revenue for the City.
“Part of our strategy has been to drive down consumption and so all residents of Cape Town have been restricted to 50 litres of water per day,” he said. “We have managed to reduce water by 50% as part of this ongoing effort.”
But, he said, despite the price of water more than doubling (also part of the strategy to reduce water usage) the simple fact was that people were buying less water from the City because of the restrictions.
It is estimated that the City’s revenues have declined by around R1.5 billion because less water is being used. “But at the same time we have to augment the water supply. And we have had to escalate these projects due to the current crisis,” said Greyling.
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People are buying less water from the City and revenues have declined. – Lance Greyling
