With Nelson Mandela Bay facing an array of water outages, it has now emerged that the supply of water trucks has dried up.
The DA said on Wednesday this was because the metro had not paid contractors, while the metro said it was “a contractual matter related to payments”.
DA caucus leader Retief Odendaal said the situation was unacceptable.
“Notwithstanding the various water outages across the metro currently, there are unfortunately no water trucks available to be deployed.
“This is as a result of the metro neglecting to pay contractors which have now withdrawn their fleet.
“I will liaise with the department of water and sanitation to see if they can assist our residents during this latest emergency.
“Clearly the metro administration can’t get its house in order.”
Bay water and sanitation executive director Barry Martin said metro teams were working hard to address water outages that had occurred as a result of recent lightning strikes but confirmed “there are currently no water trucks available from the normal contract”.
“Where critical outages do occur these are dealt with via the repair service provider.
“The recent water outages have happened as a result of load-shedding and pumps being down.
“Critical water pump stations are exempted from load-shedding.
“The situation is recovering, only parts of Ward 50 in Kariega are still without water and supply should be restored by tomorrow [Thursday] while repairs and rezoning are being finalised.”
He said the outages in other areas of the metro were related to localised problems like burst pipes, and the metro was working hard to fix those.
“The fact that there are no water trucks currently is a contractual matter related to payments but we are dealing with it in conjunction with our roads and transport colleagues.
“It should be noted that the primary water supply to Nelson Mandela Bay citizens is via reticulated water supply and water trucks are only for emergencies,” he said.
HeraldLIVE
No water trucks available as Nelson Mandela Bay hit by outages
Image: CHAYATORN LAORATTANAVECH
With Nelson Mandela Bay facing an array of water outages, it has now emerged that the supply of water trucks has dried up.
The DA said on Wednesday this was because the metro had not paid contractors, while the metro said it was “a contractual matter related to payments”.
DA caucus leader Retief Odendaal said the situation was unacceptable.
“Notwithstanding the various water outages across the metro currently, there are unfortunately no water trucks available to be deployed.
“This is as a result of the metro neglecting to pay contractors which have now withdrawn their fleet.
“I will liaise with the department of water and sanitation to see if they can assist our residents during this latest emergency.
“Clearly the metro administration can’t get its house in order.”
Bay water and sanitation executive director Barry Martin said metro teams were working hard to address water outages that had occurred as a result of recent lightning strikes but confirmed “there are currently no water trucks available from the normal contract”.
“Where critical outages do occur these are dealt with via the repair service provider.
“The recent water outages have happened as a result of load-shedding and pumps being down.
“Critical water pump stations are exempted from load-shedding.
“The situation is recovering, only parts of Ward 50 in Kariega are still without water and supply should be restored by tomorrow [Thursday] while repairs and rezoning are being finalised.”
He said the outages in other areas of the metro were related to localised problems like burst pipes, and the metro was working hard to fix those.
“The fact that there are no water trucks currently is a contractual matter related to payments but we are dealing with it in conjunction with our roads and transport colleagues.
“It should be noted that the primary water supply to Nelson Mandela Bay citizens is via reticulated water supply and water trucks are only for emergencies,” he said.
HeraldLIVE
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