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Getting down and dirty to clear stormwater drains

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Drain Clearing Trollip
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Executive Mayor Athol Trollip with Deputy Mayor Mongameli Bobani, Roads and Transport MMC Rano Kayser clearing a drain in Uitenhage, Chase Street at the launch of a Stormwater Drainage Clearing Project. More than 200 people have already been employed through the Extended Public Works Programme. The Executive Mayor has called on the residents not to throw foreign objects into the drains. He said the project will help decrease flooding that leads to road closures during heavy rains.

Blocking of stormwater drains in Nelson Mandela Bay will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to an Extended Public Works Programme driven project that will see more than 200 people employed to unblock and clean drains and catchpits in local areas.

Launching the programme in the Uitenhage Town Hall, the Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Cllr Athol Trollip, called on all the residents of the City to support the project by refraining from dumping litter and foreign objects into stormwater drains.”Today we are launching an important programme that seeks to improve our infrastructure and create the much needed jobs for the people of this City, more especially the youth. We must make it our responsibility as residents to clean this city and make sure that the City’s infrastructure works well to support economic growth that will in turn create jobs,” said Executive Mayor.

Speaking to the newly employed as he was busy clearing one of the blocked drains in Chase Street, the Executive Mayor told them to take their jobs seriously, because it was important work that would assist the Municipality in delivering world-class infrastructure. Stormwater drain and canal clearing, creating awareness about illegal dumping on drains and removing overgrown grass in ditches and drains will be some of the work that will be undertaken by the recently employed people.

Mayoral Committee Member for Roads and Transport, Councillor Rano Kayser, stated: “We have committed ourselves to create work opportunities for the residents, under a very difficult economic climate; this will be achieved through a number of initiatives. We took a conscious decision to start an initiative aimed first at creating work opportunities and also servicing our infrastructure”.

Councillor Kayser added: ” We have fulfilled the promise that was made by our Executive Mayor as part of his 100 days programme in office and we are going to continue to identify other initiatives that are aimed at work opportunity creation for the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay.

A visibly excited employee of the Programme from Uitenhage, Vanesa Adams, thanked the Municiapality for the opportunity. “What makes me happy is that I will be doing a job that will contribute to service delivery and bring a positive change”. Another employee from Motherwell, Siyabulela Nkosiyaphantsi, said: “As a man of the house, being given an opportunity to put food on the table is dignity restored for me. This opportunity will go a long way in changing the fortunes of my family”.

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NMB Communications

Media Communications at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Communications Department is responsible for communicating pertinent Municipal news from Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch. Municipality Contact Details. See more articles by NMB Communication's.