MORE than 35 000 service faults and requests were resolved through Kouga Municipality’s call centre and Link app during the 2018/2019 financial year.
Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said a total of 35T201 incidents had been attended to from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019.
“This is more than double the number that were handled through the call centre and Link app the previous financial year when a total of 17 298 incidents were resolved,” he said.
“It is encouraging to see that more and more residents are making use of these platforms to alert the municipality to matters that need attention in their wards.”
He said pothole repairs showed a dramatic increase, from 399 in 2017/2018 to 7 757 in 2018/2019.
“This increase is largely due to the pothole repair programme which was launched by the municipality in September 2018,” he said.
“While we still have a long way to go when it comes to road repairs, it is heartening to see the progress.”
The emptying of septic tanks made up the bulk of service requests in both years, with 4 335 being attended to through the call centre and Link app in 2017/2018 and 13 985 in 2018/2019.
A total of 2 949 sewer blockages were also cleared during the past financial year.
Hendricks said the municipality had further escalated its war on leaks during 2018/2019, with 1 872 burst water pipes and 1 880 leaking meters having been repaired.
During the same period, more than 1 800 power interruptions were attended to and 881 faulty street lights were fixed.
“We would further like to thank residents for reporting illegal dumping more proactively. A total of 331 illegal dumping sites were reported and cleaned this past year compared to 166 the previous year,” he said.
The Kouga Call Centre is open seven days a week, from 07:30 to 19:00, and can be reached on 042 200 2200 (press option five).
The Link Powered by Vodacom app can be downloaded from Google Play, the App Store or at https://download.linkapp.co.za/#dl.
