Status Quo
KPA 3: KPA 3: Basic Service Delivery and Infrastructure Development
3.1 General Overview
3.1.3 Provision of Energy/Electricity
The municipality and ESKOM are the main electricity supply authorities. The Municipality has a licence for Groblersdal town and Roossenekal town only, with all other areas falling under the jurisdiction of Eskom.
Approximately 97, 5% of all the towns and villages comprising the EMLM have access to electricity supply.
The Municipality rely on Eskom to supply all other areas within EMLM whereby mostly the challenge is capacity on the network as certain areas could not be electrified until Eskom upgrade the networks.
The municipality has implemented a smart metering project in the district at Roossenekal town. This project was performed in collaboration with Invirohub and a total number of 465 smart meters have been installedto-‐date. The main objective of this project is to reduce illegal connections and enforce community members to pay for the electricity provided, thus improving payment levels. The project was rolled to Groblersdal town in the current financial year 2014/2015 with a target of ... units set.
We are also having those villages amongst other like Makwana, Monsterlus, New stands and others that are still without electricity and the processes are underway. We are also looking at other alternatives sources like Solar system to those communities that are living in poverty and deficient in this basic service. The electricity backlog is 5,4%(3268)
EMLM has developed a lighting master plan for all municipal areas to establish the financial implications of providing high mast lights in the entire municipal area and reduce possible incidence of crime in unlighted areas and also urbanise the townships. This is proven by the high mast lights projects in Elansdoorn township, Walter Sizulu and Thambo Square (ward 9 and 11).
Table 41: Types of energy sources Geography
Energy or fuel for cooking
Elias Motsoaledi
None 138
Electricity 37,830
Gas 666
Paraffin 3,732
Wood 13,069
Coal 4,483
Animal dung 215
Solar 102
Other 16
Total 60,251
Source : Stats SA census 2011
Table 42: Types of energy for heating and lighting
Energy or fuel for heating Energy or fuel for lighting Number of households
None None 59
Electricity 7,167
Gas 10
Paraffin 48
Candles (not a valid option) 1,313
Solar 16
Total 8,614
Electricity None 29
Electricity 30,246
Gas 16
Paraffin 16
Candles (not a valid option) 56
Solar 70
Total 30,433
Gas None 4
Electricity 369
Gas 28
Paraffin 2
Candles (not a valid option) 57
Solar 2
Total 462
Paraffin None 10
Electricity 565
Gas 4
Paraffin 87
Candles (not a valid option) 712
Solar 5
Total 937
Wood None 49
Electricity 9,288
Gas 24
Paraffin 95
Candles (not a valid option) 2,288
Solar 44
Total 11,789
Coal None 4
Electricity 7,019
Gas 5
Paraffin 18
Candles (not a valid option) 223
Solar 27
Total 7,296
Candles (not a valid option) None -‐
Electricity -‐
Gas -‐
Paraffin -‐
Candles (not a valid option) -‐
Solar -‐
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Energy or fuel for heating Energy or fuel for lighting Number of households
Total -‐
Animal dung None
Electricity 163
Gas
Paraffin
Candles (not a valid option) 7
Solar 1
Unspecified
Not applicable
Total 171
Solar None 2
Electricity 81
Gas
Paraffin
Candles (not a valid option) 5
Solar 12
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Total 99
Other None -‐
Electricity 4
Gas -‐
Paraffin -‐
Candles (not a valid option) -‐
Solar -‐
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Total 4
Unspecified None -‐
Electricity -‐
Gas -‐
Paraffin -‐
Candles (not a valid option) -‐
Solar -‐
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Total -‐
Not applicable None -‐
Electricity -‐
Gas -‐
Paraffin -‐
solar -‐
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Total 107
Total Electricity 54,902
Gas 87
Paraffin 268
Candles (not a valid option) 4,661
Solar 177
Unspecified -‐
Not applicable -‐
Total 60,251
Source : Stats SA census 2011
Illegal connections remain a threat to expanding access to electricity to all residents and communities. Land claims are also impacting negatively to the implementation electrification programmes.
3.1.3.1 Free Basic Electricity and challenges
The municipality approved an indigent policy (council resolution number) which guides the development of the indigent register (council resolution number). The Municipality is providing free basic electricity to the beneficiaries as per the approved register. The total customer configured as at February 2015 is 1509 and only 1277 households are receiving Free Basic Electricity. The current collection varies from month to month as not all the beneficiaries collect their free units due to illegal purchase of electricity.
Table 43 : Energy reticulation
Households Numbers %
Grid connection: 58750 97,5
Solar: 60 0.1%
No electricity: 1441 2,3%
Total 60251 100%
Source: EMLM, Infrastructure department (Electrical unit) 3.1.4 Provision of Roads and Storm Water
Roads and storm water management are key municipal functions. The roads and storm water section is responsible for upgrading and regravelling of both streets and roads in the municipal area. Most roads within the municipal area are in a state of decay, with provincial routes in dire need of resealing. This has had a very negative impact on the local economy, as easy access is not available to potential investors.
The EMLM has addressed this challenge through an intervention plan to ensure that critical roads and access routes are restored to safer status levels for usage by our communities. Funding has been sourced internally but only (9) wards out of (30) wards could be catered for due to the limitation of available funding. The program is ongoing with the remaining roads to be catered for in forward financial years with the focus on the improvement of connector roads, access and inner streets within communities.
In 2013/14 the Municipality constructed 5.6km kilometres of new roads and 1.8 km project was rolled over to financial year 2014/2015 due to late appointment of service providers and heavy rains. On the repair and maintenance 1856m² of potholes were repaired and 7389 m of storm water maintained. The municipality has also extended the maintenance teams to accelerate its services to every ward through satellite offices.
The challenge is on the plant and Machinery as nothing was procured in the year under review and the status of our machinery and plant have shown serious declined in terms of Performance.
The long term strategy of the Municipality is to surface roads within the municipal area even though our Municipality relies on Grants for roads projects. Based on high road backlog different strategies are implemented, including preventative maintenance of the road Infrastructure whereby some of the roads like Monsterlus and Groblersdal were resurfaced. To improve accessibility to villages, 101.25km has been regravelled
The municipality has established the roads construction and storm water management unit in an attempt to address some of the challenges identified. It is crucial to note that the municipality does not have sufficient budget to adequately rehabilitate the existing roads
Gravel Road Infrastructure
Kilometres
Total gravel
roads New gravel roads constructed
Gravel roads upgraded to asphalt
Gravel roads graded /maintained
2011/12 1352km 6 km 17.2 km 560km
2012/13 1343.75 km 0km 8.25km 21.3 km
2013/14 1335.51 0km 5.6km 101.25km
2014/15
Asphalted Road Infrastructure Kilometres
Total roads (backlog)
New asphalt roads
Existing asphalt roads
re-‐asphalted
Existing asphalt roads re-‐
sheeted
Asphalt roads maintained
2011/12 1352.1km 17.2km 2km 560km 1352km
2012/13 1334.9km 8.25 km 0km 0km 0 km
2013/14 1335.51 5.6KM 0km 6km 6km
2014/15
Ward Description of road condition
Main road To school To grave yard To moshate Other
1
Tarred Gravel (bad) Gravel & muddy Gravel Gravel (bad)
2 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
3 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
4 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad) 5 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
6 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
7 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad) 8 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
9 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
10 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad) 11 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
12 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
13 Tarred Tarred Tarred Tarred Tarred
14 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
15 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
16 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad) 17 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
18 Tarred Gravel Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
19 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad)
20 Tarred Gravel Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
21 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
22 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (bad) 23 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
24 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel Gravel (bad)
25 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad) 26 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel (bad) Gravel (fair) Gravel (bad)
27 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel / tarred Gravel Gravel (bad)
28 Tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad)
29 Tarred Gravel/tarred Gravel & rocky Gravel Gravel (bad)
30 Tarred Gravel/tarred Gravel/tarred Gravel Gravel
Table 45: Backlog: Roads and stormwater
Description Baseline Current Backlog
Surfaced roads/stormwater (km) 117 125 km
Gravel roads (km) 1367 1242
Total (km) 1452 1242 (remaining)
Source: Infrastructure department (Roads and stormwater master plan)
The average state of the roads network can be regarded as fair, with 9% of the surfacing and 11% of the structure in poor to very poor category.