Assisting Mopani District Municipality to Improve Service Delivery and Eradicate Backlogs
Mopani District Municipality, a Water Services Authority, is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing water and sanitation services infrastructure.
Mopani District Municipality, a Water Services Authority, is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing water and sanitation services infrastructure. The Municipality lacked up-to-date water services master plans essential for effective and sustainable service delivery, which enable effective, efficient, and sustainable water services infrastructure development and service delivery in the municipal area. The Municipality was experiencing significant challenges in the delivery of water and sanitation services in its municipal area including poor operations and maintenance, water distribution losses, unreliable supply, water rationing, infrastructure misalignment and insufficient capacities. In addition, the municipality faced issues with sewage treatment and disposal and had limited capacity to develop the necessary infrastructure master plans.
The DBSA assisted in the development of the Municipality’s Water Services Master Plan, and Water Services Development Plan and Management Plan to Reduce Non-Revenue Water. These will assist the municipality in improving the identification, prioritisation, budgeting, alignment, and sustainability of projects in water and sanitation services delivery. The project will help Mopani District Municipality assess the capacity of its water and wastewater treatment plants to meet future demand, considering population growth and economic activities. It will identify critical issues in water services, including service backlogs, infrastructure capacity, and long-term sustainability. In addition, the project will guide the municipality’s investments to boost economic development and municipal revenues. Upon completion, the project is expected to attract third-party funding, alongside the municipality’s own resources, to implement the identified projects in the master plan.
Outputs
- Water Service Master
- Water Service Development Plan
- Management Plan to Reduce Non-Revenue Water Outcomes
Economic impact
Infrastructure of at least R338.5 million is expected to be unlocked in the short and medium terms in bulk water and sanitation infrastructure.
Summary of infrastructure expected to be unlocked in medium-term to long term per financial year
Once the priority projects identified are implemented, 296 319 households will benefit from new and improved water and sanitation services.
Job creation
Once the priority projects identified are implemented, 1 389 job opportunities are expected to be created in the medium and long terms comprising:
- 422 skilled job opportunities.
- 742 semi-skilled job opportunities.
- 225 unskilled job opportunities.
Lessons learnt
- Development and positive change take time: Despite all best efforts, it took more than four years from the time the municipality first requested the assistance of the DBSA on the project to the adoption of the project outputs by the local council.
- Stakeholder engagement and development facilitation are critical in infrastructure delivery: The project team from the onset built in significant stakeholder engagement and development facilitation into the project. These activities were critical in maintaining the buy-in of the municipality and key stakeholders in resolving issues and delays encountered.
- Efficiency of DBSA internal processes needs to be improved: Given the delays highlighted above on the procurement and payment processes of the Bank, there is significant scope for improving the efficiency of the DBSA’s internal processes such as the procurement and payment processes.
- Compliance with all applicable regulations must be ensured at all times: All applicable regulations (e.g., Environmental, Occupational Health and Safety, etc.) must be maintained during project delivery to avoid reputational damage and consequential project delays. During the project, the Project Steering Committee ensured that no corners were cut, and that all applicable regulations were strictly complied with. The project was completed successfully without any injuries and fatalities.
- Use of approved standard forms of contract facilitated the adjudication of the contractual claims of service providers: The DBSA used approved standard forms of contract to appoint the professional services provider instead of a be-spoke service level agreement developed in-house. The advantage of using the approved standard forms of contract is that these conditions of contract are well established, are tested by case law.
- Appropriate pricing and other strategies should be explored to mitigate cost escalation in project delivery: The use of a fixed-price strategy in the implementation of the project was effective in mitigating the risk of cost escalations. Similar pricing and other strategies should be explored by the DBSA on the execution phases of projects given the background that significant cost escalations are being experienced on public sector projects in South Africa
Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo
R338.5 million
1 389 job opportunities are expected to be created in the medium and long terms
- Water Service Master
- Water Service Development Plan
- Management Plan to Reduce Non-Revenue Water Outcomes