Electrical Advisory Technical Task Team formed to assist Mbombela

  • April 25th, 2022

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT FROM KLCBT AND SAPOA ON THE STATE OF ELECTRICTY IN MBOMBELA

22 APRIL 2022

The Mpumalanga Regional Branch of SAPOA, South African Property Owners Association, representing the majority of commercial property owners in the country and region have teamed up with the KLCBT, Business Chamber, representing the majority of businesses in the region to investigate the state of electricity in Mbombela, specifically Nelspruit and White River.  This has been driven by the ongoing and increasing disruption to the electrical supply in the City due a number of reasons, including cable theft, lack of maintenance or maintenance plans, and aging infrastructure that is not being replaced and/or upgraded.

The impact and cost to their members, the local economy and rates base of the City is significant and includes:

  • Business interruption and loss of trading/productivity hours;
  • Cost of standby supply (generators) and diesel to run the generators during these outages;
  • Impact on traffic and resulting traffic congestion; and
  • Impact on the underlying business confidence and investor confidence in the city.

Given the above, the two organisations have established an Electrical Advisory Technical Task Team made up of electrical technical specialists to assess the current masterplan and state of electricity in Mbombela, specifically Nelspruit and White River.  The purpose of this being to highlight the critical requirements for a stable and sustainable electrical reticulation and distribution system in a city such as the City of Mbombela and identify the shortfalls, problems and priorities requiring attention to bring stability and reliability back to the system.

“It is our intention to partner with the City in the spirit of the Public Private Growth Imitative (PPGI) during the investigation and work through the report with them so that it can feed into the IDP, budgeting and electrical planning for the short to medium term”, indicated Sandra Jacobs, President of the KLCBT. “We have proposed this to the Municipal Manager and we believe after the public meeting held on 20 April 2022 at the Council Chambers, the Municipality will be receptive to this”, indicated James Aling, representing SAPOA on the initiative.

Any individual and/or business who wishes to give input into the investigation and process is welcome to contact Linda Grimbeek, the Chief Operations Officer at KLCBT, as this is not an exclusive initiative and is for the benefit not only for our members but all the businesses and residents in the City.

Compiled by:   Linda Grimbeek, COO, KLCBT

Contact Details: Email: linda@klcbt.co.za