Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has received €5.7 million (R93m) from the German government to fund a range of water projects. It comes after the City announced its implementation of its water strategy on Wednesday.
Mayco member for water and waste services Xanthea Limberg said: “For the German government to consider such a substantial investment into the implementation of the City’s water strategy is a significant indication of good faith and confidence in the exemplary work that has been produced by our Water and Sanitation Department.”
The grant comes via the German Development Bank KfW. It will be used to fund a broad range of technical assistance and education and training measures to support the City’s drive towards water resilience. The grant comprises two broad allocations, with 1.2m allocated for education and training measures in wastewater treatment and 4.5m allocated to support the City’s projects.
“It (the grant) will be used for a range of professional services and technical training, including optimal use of wastewater as a resource, with energy/resource efficiency and price considerations; greenhouse gas reduction objectives; development of a risk management strategy for reuse and appropriate monitoring programme taking into account contaminants of emerging concern; and updating the City’s stormwater master plans; along with various other projects,” Limberg said.
The City of Cape Town has received 5.7 million (R93m) from the German government to fund a range of water projects. Picture: Marvin Charles/Cape Argus
In 2018 the City signed a loan agreement with the German government for R1.3 billion.
Limberg said the money was used for the City’s water and waste treatment stations.
“These are two separate grants, the grant that was signed more than a year ago was loan funding which was for our waste water treatment facilities. This particular grant means that there is no requirement to pay back this money which will be going to a range of initiatives of building capacity,” she said.
The Strategy is a long-term plan with very ambitious objectives, as it aims to guide Cape Town towards becoming water resilient by 2030, and achieve water sensitive city status by 2040.