ADDRESS BY MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE
COUNCIL MS NANDI MAYATHULA-KHOZA AT THE
GAUTENG
INFRASTRUCTURE
INVESTMENT
CONFERENCE ON 17 JULY 2015 AT THE
GALLAGHER ESTATE, MIDRAND
The Moderator Mr Victor Kgomoeswana
Executive Mayor and honoured Speakers
Members of the Media
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for the opportunity to present opening
remarks at this 3rd session of the Gauteng Infratructure
Investment Conferece. It is encouraging that all the
Speakers yesterday including the two Ministers,
embraced Gauteng's clear and bold ten pillar 2030
vision of Radical Transformation, Modernisation and
Re-Industrialisation in line with the NDP.
The Premier's call for strong partnerships and
collaboration between government and the private
secor was also embraced. This was demonstrated later
by the appetite and interest of the private sector
investors and bankers to invest in all the seven (7)
bankable strategic infrastructure projects. These
projects will now be taken to the market for open
tender. This pitching process will happen twice a year.
You know as well as I do that Africa is on the rise and
infrastructure investment is at the heart of her
prosperity. For us in particular, this is a means to
provide employment, reduce poverty and inequality,
grow inclusive economy and better the lives of our
people.
WATER
Gauteng government has a draft Water and Sanitation
2030 plan. It is aimed at generating awareness on
water resource availability for Gauteng's growth and
development, identifying challenges & critical issues to
protect water resources for broader growth &
development goals, to enhance strategic alliances and
partnerships between public and private sector for
development, to meet water demand and water
security and suply in Gauteng, to manage costs and
rate impact on the consumers of water and to meet
water quality standards.
Stats SA community survey of 2013 revealed that only
1,8 % of Gauteng citezens do not have access to
water. Gauteng uses 11% of the country's water and
the biggest user is the urban sector including irrigation
with 79% & therefore the driver of future growth in
water use. Mining, industries and power generation use
about 8% of water combined. Challenges of water
demand includes the fact that Gauteng's population is
projected to increase by 300 000 persons per annum
translating into 4,5 million new citizens by 2030. It is
estimated that we will need 17 500 million my per
annum by 2030.
The three metropolitan municipalities and seven local
municipalities in the GCR all have the function of water
services authority (WSA) and water services provider
(WSP). In addition, Rand Water acts as a bulk WSP,
providing 83% of the bulk water to all Gauteng
municipalities and some individual customers.
Regarding water security, in the medium term there is
no water threat of water scarcity for manufacturing,
mining and domestic consumption in Gauteng but, in
the long term, the total water demand will likely exceed
availability of water in the province after 2030 and there
will be a need to both reduce water consumption and
increase supply to maintain water security and allow for
sustainable development. Climate change will worsen
the situation.
The GCR straddles 3 Water Management Areas and is
highly reliant on a complex array of inter basin transfers
in order to meet the rapidly growing demand. This
includes transfers from the Vaal, Tugela, Komati, Usutu
and Senqu (Lesotho Highlands) catchments. This
means that water has to be distributed over large areas
and difficult terrain with a high cost to service the
remaining, mainly non-urban, needs. The integrated
Vaal river system supplies water to 60% of the
country's economy and 45% of the country's economy.
It remains crucial that this system is secure not only for
the present but for the future.
Our proposed intervention to enhance water
infrastructure includes a change in construction of
water Infrastrucure such as the canals, pipelines,
pumping plans and storm drainage and increasing the
size of dams. We are all aware of the Lesotho
Highlands water project phase 2 Dam, one of the
largest construction projects underway in the world to
transfer 70m3/s from the upper portions of Lesotho
Highlands into the Vaal river system. This project will
address the long term water security in the country and
will include two distinct systems: a water delivery
system and a hydropower generation system by 2023
to meet the demand.
Our Gauteng interventions include the Regional Bulk
Water and Sanitation Infrastructure projects in
partnership with the Department of Water and
Sanitation and Rand Water which include Sedibeng
Regional Sanitation scheme is currently under
construction, the Western Highland water supply
scheme upgrade.
Other water infrastructure projects include installation
of Rain water harvesting systems for agricultural &
irrigation purposes, adopt a river program for river
health, unaccounted for water saving, eradication of
illegal water use, acid mine drainage desalination in the
western, central and eastern basins.
SANITATION
Stats SA general household survey of 2013 indicates
that Gauteng province has achieved 90,2% access to
sanitation. The major challenge is that a number of
waste water treatment works are overloaded and
overflowing. There is a need to consider the medium
to long term planning of the future upgrading of the
many of the existing sewer plants and the construction
of new plants where required. Public, Private
Partnerships are needed to achieve this.
We also need Sanitation solutions for informal
settlements where we are currently using Ventilated
improved pit sanitation, septic tanks, and chemical
toilets. The above mentioned bulk waste water
treatment plans will help address the challenge of
ageing infrastructure, capacity, including housing and
economic developments.
We need this debate on water security and plans for
the province to meet the ever increasing water
demands due to population and economic growth.
Remember the former Minister Kasrils who said in
2002 "Water is life and Sanitation is dignity"
ENERGY SECURITY
Gauteng is currengly reviewing its Gauteng Energy Mix
Strategy (GEMS) to align it with the TMR 2030 vision.
The strategy encapsulates the vision for the province
as “a province that promotes and implements sound
energy decisions based on the principles of equity, a
healthy environment, investment promotion and
prosperity for all”.
The main purpose of the GEMS and implementation
plan is aimed at responding to energy security
challenges , promote economic development and
improve the natural environment of Gauteng by
reducing green house gas emissions, respond to the
energy challenges of Eskom direct the way that energy
is supplied and used within the Gauteng province
during the short , medium and long term in an
integrated and comprehensive manner. It is a strategy
that will require working with all other independent
private sector and civil society initiatives.
We are looking at the supply side energy infrastructure
interventions such as gas based power generation, cogeneration of energy, utility scale renewables. The
demand side interventions include energy efficiency for
the households, industry and government and other
demand side responses. The Executive Mayor will
probably expand on the municipal initiatives to build
long term infrastructure security in the province as part
of the Energy Steering committee. Some of the Energy
Mix strategic infrastructure projects that will be taken
to the market include:
1. Roof-top Solar PV Rollout Programme (500MW)
GIFA is in process of appointing a Transactional
Advisor to develop the RFP procurement documents by
end of June 2015. GDoH infrastructure branch is
collecting electricity bills from health facilities and we
are organising the title deeds as required by National
Treasury to be approved. The remaining process PPP
should take about eight months to the handing over of
sites.
2. Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme
The Gauteng government initial partnered with ESKOM
to conduct energy audits for all GPG owned facilities
i.e. Hospitals, Community Health Centres, Provincial
Clinics, and other health facilities. To date 237 clinics,
CHCs and all hospitals were audited. We have
replaced 105381 lighting systems with LEDs out
282,333 across the province, which accounts for
37.3%. It expected that all facilities would run on LEDs
in 3 years’ time. We have installed 37 smart-meters in
six health facilities to enable accurate baseline
measurements.
3. Gas Supply Programme
The gas supply is for 21 health institutions with 24
boilers. The construction period ranges from 3 weeks
to 8 months therefore first gas will be by mid-August
2015 and the last gas will be by 29 February 2016. The
gas programme and boiler replacement programme for
the remaining 53 coal fired boilers will be combined for
private sector to participate as a PPP process.
4. Cogen/Trigen/Quattrogen Programme
Six hospitals were earmarked for this programme and
the programme was provisional registered as a PPP
project by National Treasury. A transactional advisor
was appointed 1 June 2015 by Gauteng Infrastructure
Funding Agency (GIFA) to develop the RFP. The RFP
will be given to the prequalified companies to respond
by end February 2016.
CONCLUSION
Programme Director I thank you for your generosity
with both your audience and the time.
Allow me to conclude with a plea. Because we ware
planning for the future, we must be cautious of the
complex environment of infrastructure planning; as
such it is important that we approach infrastructure
planning as an integrated GCR.
In order to arrive at proposals on how to achieve a
better integration and co-ordination of infrastructure
planning and deliver, in a manner that will harness the
scarce resources for generations to come and thus
secure peace and prosperity for all.
Thank you.