Business owners are expected to start cleaning drains across Nelson Mandela Bay from Tuesday after being allocated wards on Monday.
The small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) met at Vuyisile Mini Square on Monday to be allocated wards they would work in.
This follows a council decision on Tuesday last week to allocate work packages to 600 SMMEs to clean drains.
The decision was made as a result of mounting pressure from the 600 SMME operators, who demanded that they be given work to ensure they have “a different Christmas”.
The council approved a R21m amendment to its capital and operating budgets in the departments of infrastructure and engineering, as well as roads and transport.
The R21m will be used to clean drains and ensure the city is clean over the festive season.
One of the SMME operators, Unathi Skade, said they were looking forward to finally be able to start working on Tuesday.
“We are happy about these developments as we are now getting opportunities we did not initially get,” Skade said.
Infrastructure and engineering portfolio head Andile Lungisa could not be reached for comment.