Sharika Regchand
A MAJOR upgrade of Pietermaritzburg’s electricity infrastructure, costing more than R800 million, is on the cards to deal with the power outages frustrating residents and business owners.
Msunduzi electricity department head Sabatha Nomnganga sketched an implementation plan for the upgrade of the municipality’s primary electricity network to councillors during an executive committee meeting last week.
The 33 kilovolt electricity network in the city was at the end of its lifespan and needed to be replaced to accommodate future development, he said.
“The system is failing Pietermaritzburg,” he said.
Nomnganga said the plan was already being implemented in Northdale, a huge industrial area that consumed a lot of power.
“We have placed orders to purchase cables and equipment. Three high-voltage transformers have already been received for Northdale,” he said. The next area to be given attention was Mkondeni.
Depending on funds, areas would then be attended to simultaneously.
Power failures in the city were caused by the old network, illegal connections and an increase in demand brought on by development.
“We will be stabilising the network with the intention of supplying high-quality service to our consumers,” he said.
Nomnganga said the plan included putting up new substations in the city.
Municipal manager Mxolisi Nkosi said that so far R173m had been set aside for the implementation, with R123m coming from the national Department of Energy and R50m from the municipality.
“A funding model is being developed to get the rest of the money (R627m) from council funding,” he said.
The implementation would take place over three years.
“By the end of 2015 we will have an uninterrupted power supply, quick response to power outages and quick receipt of electricity.
“Outages will be attended to in not more than six hours. Currently it takes about 12 hours because the ageing infrastructure makes it difficult to locate the fault,” Nkosi said.
Areas with a concentration of businesses, such as Northdale, were receiving priority as businesses were “the backbone of the municipality’s revenue and also the biggest consumer”, Nkosi said.
ANC councillor Jabu Ngubo asked what was going to be done to prevent cable theft. Nomnganga responded that the copper cables would be replaced with aluminium cables.
DA councillor Bill Lambert said the plan had to have united political support.
“What we have heard is exactly what the ratepayers want to hear – reinvestment and the rehabilitation of the ageing infrastructure so that electricity outages, like potholes, will become a thing of the past.”
