Cape Town - Community members gathered at the City Council Chambers late on Monday night for the third Quarterly Milnerton lagoon stakeholders’ meeting where they received an update on the City’s multibillion-rand Milnerton Lagoon rehabilitation plans.
The meeting was chaired by mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis together with representatives from various departments.
In the meeting, the City promised an improvement in the Potsdam effluent quality within a few weeks and a significant improvement by the end of June, ongoing pond cleaning and refurbishment were also announced to address the ecology of the waterbodies, as well as reed bed pond valves being installed.
Alex Lansdowne, deputy chairperson on the mayoral advisory committee on water quality in wetlands and waterways, said: “We are expecting the full council meeting at the end of March to approve the R5 billion Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (PWWTW) upgrades. This is the beginning of the pathway out of the stink.”
The development of Potsdam was delayed for more than 10 years due to appeals by bidders, which were recently dismissed.
These upgrades are among the City’s largest infrastructure projects.
Cayla Murray, DA constituency head for Blaauwberg-Durbanville 2, said: “The anticipated contract signing for the design-build of mechanical and electrical works for the upgrade and expansion and the civil, building and demolition works for the upgrade and expansion will both take place in mid-April 2023.
“The anticipated construction for both contracts is set to start in May 2023. The anticipated start of the trial operation period is November 2026 and the anticipated completion of the contracts is November 2027.”
Hill-Lewis said transparency was a value of the City and it was happy to take the most robust criticism from residents, especially on the matter of the Milnerton Lagoon degradation.
Hill-Lewis said: “There is no other community in the whole city that has quarterly update meetings on the problems they face. The City takes this problem seriously and has presented a detailed multibillion-rand project timeline to address the problem.
“That timeline of course has been subject to some delays already and I have no doubt that in the course of the next five years, it will be subject to some other unexpected delays. But the project has everything it needs to succeed, there is not a single stone we have left unturned.”
Caroline Marx, director of Rethink The Stink and environmental head of Milnerton Central Residents Association, said: “While the commitment by the mayor that whatever resources are required to restore the Milnerton Lagoon will be made available is welcomed, the slow progress is both disappointing and frustrating.
“The City wishes to push the completion dates for Potsdam for another two years, after an extension was already permitted. From a community perspective, this causes us to lose complete faith in what is promised to us.”