Johannesburg Water will spend about R1 billion annually on the upgrading and rehabilitation of water supply infrastructure over a period of five years, it said on Thursday.
Addressing the media at the Glenvista Depot in Johannesburg, Ros Greeff of Joburg's Mayoral Committee for Infrastructure and Services said the money would be spent to ensure that occurrences such as water pipe bursts were reduced.
This comes after a study was conducted to establish patterns of water pipe bursts across the city. Greeff said Johannesburg Water would be spending R307 million in the
current financial year and that the it had motivated for an additional R471 million to be spent in 2008/2009 for the water network's infrastructure.
Greeff assured city residents and the business community that the water services in the city would not be disrupted, adding that the planned projects for water and sanitation services would continue.
A number of projects introduced in the 2006/07 financial year included Gcina'amanzi (save water) - where pre-paid water metres were installed in Soweto to eradicate water losses.
"All these projects have the objective of improving service delivery and customer satisfaction by updating and extending Johannesburg Water infrastructure and replacing old and outdated infrastructure," said Greeff.
Sapa
