BusinessLive reports that Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti said on Friday that an implementation protocol to restore infrastructure at the polluted Vaal River system had been signed with a wastewater specialist company.
This announcement was made during a visit to Sebokeng in the Vaal to get an update on the Vaal River Rehabilitation Project. The project began in 2018 after raw sewage flowed into the river from pump stations in the Emfuleni Municipality, posing environmental and health risks. Nkwinti said on Friday that the implementation protocol had been signed on 29 March by his department, the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs in Gauteng, the Emfuleni local municipality, municipal infrastructure support agent and the East Rand Water Care Company (ERWAT). “As a wastewater specialist company, ERWAT will ensure that all wastewater treatment infrastructure is resuscitated to an operational state and that pollution in the Vaal River is stopped,” Nkwinti said. He indicated that R341m had been allocated for the project, and 250 youth would be trained in plumbing, carpentry, bricklaying, paving and agriculture. Nkwinti also advised that the SA National Defence Force would train 2,000 young people and community members to guard 44 pump stations until the completion of the project, which was estimated to be in March 2020.
- Read the full original of Ernest Mabuza’s report on this story at BusinessLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page