Kouga Municipality’s Integrated Development Plan for the period 2022-2027 was approved unanimously by council on Tuesday, May 31.
The IDP is a five-year plan that sets out the needs of all 15 municipal wards. It is put together in consultation with communities and is reviewed every year.
Kouga Executive Mayor, Horatio Hendricks, said council was grateful for the active interest that was shown by communities in putting together the new IDP.
“It was wonderful to meet so many of our residents and to hear what they want to see happen in their wards,” said Hendricks.
“This input helped us to decide how to split the budget for 2022/23 and which projects were prioritised.
“The IDP clearly sets out, in tabulated format, the projects that are in the pipeline for the coming financial year, commencing on July 1, as well as for the next five years.”
According to Hendricks, important projects from an infrastructure point of view include masterplans for water and sanitation, ongoing drought mitigation projects and the upgrading of nine informal settlements, six new housing projects, a social housing project, and land for freehold development.
“The repair, resealing and upgrading of roads remains a priority,” he said.
“Look out for the pothole repair vehicle that will appear on our roads this year, as well as a leak detection vehicle, a gift from our partner in climate change mitigation in Germany, the municipality of Ilsfeld in Baden Wurrtenberg.”
To face down the continued loadshedding that besieges all Kouga, the municipality will be commencing an EIA process about establishing a 100MW powerplant.
“A successful installation of our own powerplant will set us up to be even more attractive to investors who have been flocking to our shores to assess our suitability as a home for their business investments,” said Hendricks.
“Upgrading of water treatment works and waste treatment works, as well as security of our infrastructure, continues to be high on our agenda.
“We have turned to groundwater to enable us to survive the drought we are enduring. This necessitates additional reticulation infrastructure to get the water to treatment works, as well as new types of purification infrastructure. We intend to eradicate the bucket system of sanitation, currently being used by many of our residents.”
The municipality understands the need to innovate and therefore it has embarked on a process to articulate its climate change strategy, to guide its adaptation and mitigation plans.
“All municipal buildings will be assessed in order to determine their energy ratings, with plans to reduce energy use and contribution to CO2 emissions,” said Hendricks.
“The new GIS-based systems will be integrated, started in the planning department and call centre, to enable customers to track submissions and requests for service.
“Our control centre, monitoring information from a network of CCTV cameras, some equipped with licence plate recognition systems to contribute to crime prevention and management, will be formally launched.”
He said that the municipality understood when residents spoke about the accountability of employees, and so, to ensure that all employees perform at a standard expected of them, there will be a performance management system that will bring every single employee into a system of performance assessments on a regular basis.
Managers and directors’ performance assessments will include components related to their teams’ overall performance scores. All customer-facing staff will be required to attend customer service training based on the Batho Pele principles.
“We listened when the community complained about their municipal accounts,” he said. “Commencing shortly, residents can prepare to receive visits from fieldworkers who will capture all their municipal-related and required information.
“This will include recording meter numbers for electricity and water, updated homeowner, and contact detail information. This will assist in improving the quality of service delivered from the billing department.”
