R18 million in traffic fines fill municipal coffersn
2010-01-21
TRESPASSING motorists are making a big (if unwilling) contribution to the municipal coffers. During the financial year July 2008 to June 2009, the Drakenstein Municipality collected R18 million in traffic fines from its residents. There were 8405 accidents reported in the Drakenstein area, while 325 077 traffic offences were dealt with Top of the list was parking offences followed by speeding, unlicensed motor vehicles and the use of cellphones while driving. These figures are reflected in the annual report of the municipality. In this report Mayor Charmaine Manuel said that basic service delivery and infrastructure development, transformation, local economic development, financial viability, good governance and public participation were the key performance areas. “Improving of housing delivery and the building of sustainable communities is one of the key challenges for the municipality,” she said. Highlights mentioned in this report are the construction of the civil services of the Drommedaris Housing project at a cost of R41 million, 325 new houses to the value of R38 million that were handed over to needy residents, the upgrading of the Wellington and Paarl waste water projects (R29 million), the construction of the Mbekweni multi-purpose centre (R13 million), business hives that were open in Mbekweni and Gouda and eight satellite libraries that were established in Drakenstein. A number of unemployed youths were assited to receive their learners’ licences. Continuous community involvement programmes resulted in different ward projects (including refuse collection campaigns) that add up to 26 000 person days of work for the community. In Paarl (331 686), Wellington (33 225), Gouda (1 303), Saron (1 532) and Hermon (230) bags were filled with rubbish. The municipality also cleared 10 hectares of alien vegetation along the Berg River and resealed almost 7 km of roads. In total 4 472 kilometres of street were swept during the year and 93 600 tons of solid waste was disposed at the Wellington solid waste site. A total of 601 new streetlights were erected and 2 664 streetlights was replaced. In this time the municipality received almost 10 600 electricity complaints.
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