R17.5m Ekurhuleni’s solar project

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29-04-2013
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Property24
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The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) executive mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele has announced that the municipality will spend R17.5 million to roll out solar energy lighting to over 7 000 households at Ekurhuleni’s informal settlements for which no short or medium plans are in place for relocation or upgrading.

Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele shares a moment with Ann Van Heerden, one of the beneficiaries of the solar lighting project. Behind them is the battery control box that receives power from the solar to her dwelling. The mayor made this announcement on 12 April, at Umgababa informal settlement near Daveyton where he launched the project.

This follows on the promise Gungubele made during his state of the city address in March when he said, “Our plans for informal settlements will be of a high impact nature, notwithstanding the limited resources we may be in a position to allocate thereto.

“The ultimate aim in this regard will be to make informal settlements liveable by providing them with basic interim municipal services, while in the process of turning them around by either formalising or relocating them.”

The 10Watt solar lighting unit consists of a solar panel, a battery control box and four LED lights.

The solar panel is positioned on top of the roof but cannot be stolen because it is built in from inside the house. The lifespan of the battery is three to five years. The LED lights have the capacity to keep the light shining for up to 100 000 hours.

Already the impact of the project is far beyond just bringing lights into the homes as it has also brought income to some homes too because of the 24 temporal jobs created by the project at Umgababa informal settlement.

The impact is also positive for the economy of the city and the country as the products used in the solar project are 90 percent South African.

While initially, the project was aimed at 7 000 households located at informal settlements which have been classified as category C (areas for which no short or medium plans are in place for relocation or upgrading), the mayor announced on Friday that the project would eventually be rolled out to include other informal settlements in the city which are outside the targeted category, thus benefiting tens of thousands of households.

Gungubele explains that even though most informal settlements were illegally erected, the municipality as a local sphere of government is constitutionally bound to ensure that the conditions there are liveable, without necessarily encouraging the mushrooming of such settlements.

“We respect the fact that it is people who stay in those shacks and there are kids who are being raised from under such conditions and so this is about maintaining the dignity of our people”.

The programme brings relief to residents who on average spend R13.00 to buy a packet of candles which last for a week or R3.50 a single candle and were having to pay between R5.00 to R10.00 to charge their cell phones by nearby residents who have electricity.

Solar lighting project beneficiary, Ponki Mofokeng could not contain herself after LED lights to her home were switched on to demonstrate how the system works. Ekurhuleni Executive Mayor Clr Mondli Gungubele launched the project at Umgababa informal settlement near Daveyton on 12 April. The cellphone charging facility boasts USB charging enabler for smart phones and a universal charging facility for other handsets.

Ponki Mofokeng (35) is one of the ecstatic beneficiaries.

“Just because we live in an informal settlement it does not mean that we have to live in darkness.

“The efforts of the municipality are appreciated as you can just imagine what it was like to cook or to assist our children with homework under candlelight,” says Mofokeng.

Informal settlements in Ekurhuleni

There are 119 informal settlements, 43 of which there are plans for at various stages of formalisation and development. The other 76 informal settlements can be divided into two categories as follows:

Category 1

Includes 43 informal settlements, with no short to medium term plans either in terms of relocation or in-situ upgrading, located on municipal owned land.

Category 2

There are 33 informal settlements with no short to medium term plans either in terms of relocation or in-situ upgrading situated on privately owned land.

The reasons for the ‘no short to medium term plans’ is that these informal settlements are located in land not suitable for development.

This land is undevelopable because it is under-mined, dolomite or flood-prone for example, according to EMM.

What challenge do the settlements pose in terms of smooth service delivery?

Inhabitants of informal settlements like all other residents are constitutionally guaranteed of basic services.

They need to be provided with clean water, a healthy environment, health services, access roads, etc.

The challenge is that in most cases informal settlements are on unsuitable land that is unstable thus making it impossible to develop; they are often overcrowded and inaccessible making it difficult for certain services like emergency services to be effectively rendered.

Furthermore, because informal settlements develop spontaneously, they are usually not properly demarcated creating a planning dilemma when certain services (such as communal toilets) have to be provided

Curbing of mushrooming of informal settlements

The plan of the metro is to reduce the number of informal settlements and to formalise those informal settlements that are situated on well-located land.

In the interim a service provider is appointed to monitor and manage land invasion on an 'as and when' required basis. This action is aimed at curbing the mushrooming of new informal settlements.

What effects do the informal settlements have on the city’s budget?

1. All Ekurhuleni Metro departments are required to make annual provision of interim services in their budgets to be rendered in the informal settlements, for example: Water and Sanitation provides more than a R100 million for the provision of water and sanitation.

2. Waste Management Department provides refuse removal at a cost of R16.1 million

3. Roads and Storm Department grades and re-grades access roads at a cost of R17.4 million

4. For land invasion management and relocation, council provides R24 million

5. Provision of high mask lighting, solar lighting, grass cutting, and general community education.

According to EMM, the budget is never enough due to the growing needs of informal settlements.

Any other developments planned for the informal?

In terms of the municipality’s Human Settlement Plan the following are planned within the next 20 years:

1. Identified inclusionary projects could yield up to 18 609 units

2. There are projects where there is mixed-use development, which includes low income, medium and high income development, where low cost housing and bonded houses are in close proximity like in Cosmo City in Joburg)

3. Integrated Residential Development Programme projects identified could yield up to 103 484 units – putting people closer to economic activities.

4. Potential yield for Community Residential Units, within the informal settlements upgrade programmes is 9 796

5. There are 14 potential sites for social housing which could yield up to 11 261 units

6. Through rational design approximately 4 068 units could be developed on well-located land previously deemed to be geo-technically unsuitable, mainly in the Kempton Park – Tembisa area.

In total the Sustainable Human Settlements Plan identified 172 potential housing projects, which could accommodate up to 177 955 single residential units (RDP and bonded) and 81 284 medium density units.

EMM adds that the proposed strategy for dealing with 200 000 backyard units is to monitor, manage and support the existing processes without disturbing the current business arrangements.