The City of Johannesburg council has approved a R750m loan to upgrade the metro’s water infrastructure after 137 councillors voted in favour of it.
There were 102 councillors who voted against it while three abstained.
Council speaker Margaret Arnolds said 136 votes were required.
The city sought the loan from the International Finance Corporation to improve water reservoirs and strengthen Joburg Water’s infrastructure. The loan process dates back to earlier in the year.
Finance MMC Loyiso Masuku told council the city had met all National Treasury requirements.
“This is going to assist us in delivering services, for instance in our infrastructure in terms of Joburg Water, and give the people the Joburg that we all want. Those that are not supporting the report mean that they are not supporting service delivery. We ask council to support progress in the City of Johannesburg,” Masuku said.
Earlier in the day, mayor Dada Morero told council that the city’s service delivery programmes will continue beyond the recently hosted G20 Summit.
Morero said rebuilding efforts across Johannesburg were ongoing and aimed at tackling long-standing service delivery failures.
“We are continuing with high-impact service delivery beyond the G20 to ensure that we continue to give services to our people, and dealing with all service delivery failures that we are faced with,” Morero said.
He said engagements held during the G20 showed that business leaders were prepared to work with the city to address infrastructure challenges.
“South Africans have demonstrated, through CEOs of companies, that they want to be part and parcel of ensuring that we can save Johannesburg from decay and collapse,” he said.
Morero called on political parties to work together as the city implements recovery programmes.
Sowetan
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