Employment Profile
2.4 Climate Change
2.8.2 Reconsidering the Basic Approach to meeting Community Facilities Backlogs
158 2.8.1 Service Levels and Backlogs
Table 4: Current Levels of Service for Social Facilities According to the Access Model, the
current levels of service for social facilities are as shown alongside. A capital development program is in the design phase to respond to the most critical under-provisions of service.
Overcoming under-provision in security, fire protection, health care, education (including libraries), cemeteries and basic recreation are likely to be prioritised.
159
Expand existing facilities rather than build new ones
Only consider building new facilities after the possibilities of increasing operating hours and-or building extensions at existing facilities would not be enough or nearly enough to meet local backlogs.
If a new facility was indeed required, then consider building adjoining an existing facility
If a new facility was required and it could not be adjoined to another facility, then find a site adjacent to the existing facility, and if this was not possible, then find a site within close proximity (less than 400m))
Only consider building stand-alone facilities on their own sites and isolated from other social facilities as a last resort.
Based on the distinction of Essential Facilities and Desirable Facilities, the funding requirements of social facilities are as shown below.
Table 5: Funding Requirements of Essential Social Facilities
ESSENTIAL FACILITIES
Current accessibility
Accessibility after new 'big impact'
facilities
No. of proposed new ‘big impact’
facilities
Average Total Costs 2011
Baseline
Clinics 56% 93% 19 No. 108
CHCs 56% 93% 7 No. 79
Fire Stations 72% 85% 8 No. 151
Primary schools 83% 100% 20 No. 403
Secondary schools 77% 99% 21 No. 582
Libraries 70% 92% 11 No. 166
Sports Fields 91% 91% 0 No. 0
Cemeteries - - - Ha 157
Police Stations ? ? ? No. ?
Subtotal 86 1,648
Table 6: Funding Requirements of Desirable Social Facilities
DESIRABLE FACILITIES
Current accessibility
Accessibility after new 'big impact'
facilities
No. of proposed new ‘big impact’
facilities
Average Total Costs 2011
Baseline
Indoor Sports Halls 71% 71% 3 No. 66
Sports Stadia 80% 80% 4 No. 202
Swimming Pools 70% 70% 8 No. 227
Local Parks Under Review 100% 687 Ha 1,731
Regional Parks Under Review 100% 188 Ha 710
Halls (A, B, C) 79% 79% 8 No. 60
Subtotal 898 2,996
TOTAL 984 4,644
160 2.8.3 Spatial Distribution of Proposed Additional Capacity of Selected Essential Social Services
Primary School Capacity Secondary School Capacity
Fire-fighting Capacity Health-care Capacity
Figure 57: Proposed Additional Social Facilities
161 2.9 Infrastructure Services
The Municipality has substantial excess capacities in central areas for certain engineering services and most social services. However, developments have tended to happen in the outskirts of the Municipality where there is limited bulk infrastructure and services. The property boom of the last few years has placed significant pressure on road and sewer infrastructure particularly in the northern and western regions and the inability to expand these systems ‘ahead of the growth’ has to some extend retarded this growth. The slowdown is now providing the city with an opportunity, within its resource capacity, to address bottlenecks over the next few years to resume more efficient and more equitable growth through the timeous supply of infrastructure in key growth areas.
The challenges with regards to bulk infrastructure cost and availability has a direct relationship to the provision of housing especially low income housing. Over the years the trend with housing development and location in the Municipality has mainly been based on the availability and cost of land rather than infrastructure costs. This has led to infrastructure backlogs which are associated with high infrastructure cost as these developments are built in inaccessible peripheral locations outside the urban /services edge. Development beyond the ‘infrastructure/services edge’ is also outstripping current infrastructure capacity budgets. This causes delays in development and also results in development occurring in inappropriate areas.
For financial sustainability more housing projects should be encouraged inside the infrastructure services edge. Developing inside the infrastructure services edge and within the urban core will promote densification in accessible areas while creating thresholds for Public Transport. The following map shows the comparison costs of developing within and outside the infrastructure services edge:
162 Source: eThekwini Municipality: Engineering Unit
Figure 58: Infrastructure Development Cost
163 2.9.1 Water
The water supply to the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Metropolitan Area is experiencing serious difficulties.
Poor long term infrastructure planning and decline in investment in bulk infrastructure over the last 20 years and above average rainfall over the last few years has led to a false sense of security regarding the water supply situation.
A below average rainfall period will result in the need for water restrictions with their associated impacts on the local economy. The continued economic growth and development of the KwaZulu- Natal Coastal Metropolitan area requires an assured water supply in line with DWA’s policy of water for growth and development.
The Springrove Dam was commissioned in November 2013 and notwithstanding the additional capacity that will be available once completed, eThekwini will continue to suffer from a water supply shortage. Water recycling may, if all the approvals are received, come on stream in 2016 but more efficient utilisation of the existing resource is a priority. From the point of view of current water supply, there is insufficient supply to deal with any further development as envisaged in the SDF and SDPs
With the commissioning of Spring Grove Dam the level of assurance of the Mgeni System is above 95% but is still less than 99%. The situation is sufficiently severe that water restrictions are inevitable once rainfall returns to normal and the Head: Water and Sanitation has reported this to the eThekwini Council with a recommendation that a senior political delegation request a meeting with the Minister of Environment and Water Affairs to unblock the obstacles around bulk water supply and the finalisation of river reserve determinations.
In the area of current water delivery, 91% of households have water available within 200m of their dwelling. To cater for the indigent, the Municipality as part of its welfare package provides a basket of free basic services which include water, sanitation, and electricity and refuse removal for informal and rural settlements in accordance with a defined level of service. In addition, those consumers living in formal properties having a maximum property value of R120000 are considered to fall in the indigent category and therefore also benefit from free service delivery. The statistics recorded in the 2011/12 municipal scorecard already reflect the above but a new set of KPIs has been introduced to clearly reflect the percentage of estimated indigent households with access to free basic services.
In respect of the provision of water, sanitation and electricity to schools and clinics, the role of the Municipality is to ensure that either bulk infrastructure is available to allow connections, or that acceptable levels of service are defined to enable appropriate action to be taken by the provincial Education and Health authorities.
.
164 Figure 59: Existing Water Network
Section 3.1.3 explained that there are three potable water supply dams located in eThekwini Municipality: Hazelmere Dam; Inanda Dam and Nungwane Dam. However, as shown in Figure 29, the primary water supply for eThekwini Municipality is obtained through the Mearns Weir and the Spring Grove Dam located on the Mooi River and the Midmar Dam, Albert Falls Dam, Nagle Dam and Inanda Dam located on the uMngeni River.
165 2.9.2 Sanitation
The central and suburban regions of EMA are serviced with a water-borne sewerage system that transports sewage to a number of sewage treatment plants for treatment prior to final discharge in the Indian Ocean. There is spare capacity in the Central core area of the Municipality (approximately 100Ml/day, less in the North and South and very limited capacity in the Outer West (less than 2Ml/day). In line with the planned growth trajectory to the North, the Municipality is planning upgrades and a new regional works on the UMdloti River.
The outer peri-urban and rural areas, as well as informal settlements, are provided with on-site sewage disposal. The supply of basic sanitation to the poor households (ventilated improved pit latrines for dense settlements and urine diversion (UD) toilets for less dense settlements) is funded by national government. The UD toilet is the Municipality’s preferred method of sanitation in less dense settlements.
The following map represents the existing sewerage network for the Municipality:
Figure 60: Bulk water supply infrastructure for eThekwini Municipality
166 Providing a sewerage service for further development can necessitate expanding existing sewage treatment works and/or building new works. Under the National Water Act, to undertake either of these activities an application for a water use license must be made. Before a license application is assessed by the Dept of Water Affairs (DWA) the ecological reserve of any affected water resource must be established.
Although the ecological reserve determination studies have been completed for a number of the eThekwini estuaries - and submitted to DWA by the specialists - these studies have not been finalized by DWA.
However, it already seems to be clear from a sewerage planning perspective that, if the intentions of the ecological reserve process are to be met, and the current land uses in the SDPs remains unchanged, a combination of direct re-use of treated sewage effluent for potable water supply and some quite extensive and expensive, cross-catchment pumping, will have to form the basis of future sewerage planning.