Africa-Press – South-Africa. Appeals were dismissed for two major contracts linked to the upgrade of the Potsdam wastewater treatment plant, which means the City of Cape Town can move forward in dealing with the stench caused by pollution in the Milnerton Lagoon.
The city on Sunday issued a statement indicating that its tender appeals authority had dismissed appeals for two contracts for the R5 billion upgrade.
“These contracts are now set to serve on the city council agenda in March for a final statutory public participation before awards to the successful bidders,” the city’s statement read.
The Potsdam wastewater treatment plan currently only has the capacity to treat 47 million litres of wastewater. The poor capacity of the Potsdam plant has resulted in the overflow of effluent and sewage spills into the Diep River, which eventually flows into the Milnerton Lagoon, GroundUp previously reported.
The upgrade would allow for 100 million litres of wastewater to be treated daily.
The upgrade is part of a tranche of efforts the city is rolling out to improve the state of the lagoon, which has been giving off a foul smell and has made it unsafe for recreational activities like canoeing. Some residents have said the pollution is contributing to health problems and also devaluing their properties, News24 previously reported.
The City said that “due legal process” is being followed for the upgrade to Potsdam.
This relates to mechanical and civil tenders (relating to mechanical and electrical infrastructure as well as civil construction) awarded to contractors for Potsdam. An appeal process followed, which the tender appeals authority dismissed. The city did not indicate what the appeals were about.
In a separate statement, member of the provincial legislature Cayla Murray said appeals had been delaying the upgrade.
Murray said:
Following the appeals, another section 33 process is under way in terms of the Municipal Financial Management Act. The city will get input or comments from government bodies like Treasury. This is necessary for projects that will take longer than three years. It includes a public participation process.
Council approval is also needed before the contract is finally awarded to the service providers.
Short-term interventions
In the short term, the city has been conducting critical maintenance work to improve the treated effluent quality from Potsdam. Efforts are also under way for the “re-engineering” of natural reed beds to prevent pollution from reaching Diep River, the city said.
“The reed beds are part of the historical natural filtering process to filter and clean stormwater entering the reed beds via Koeberg Road and the surrounding industries,” the city said.
The city is investing about R4.5 million to clean “maturation ponds” which are part of the treatment works – this is needed to improve the quality of treated effluent. Work on this is scheduled to start next month and should be completed by June 2023.
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