Opened taps cost Keetmans N$650 000

KEETMANSHOOP – The Keetmanshoop municipality says the re-connection fees and consumption of water for customers whose taps were open since the outbreak of Covid-19 amounted to N$650 000 by the end of May.In March the former minister of urban and rural development, Peya Mushelenga, in a letter addressed to all regional councils, town councils, village councils and municipalities directed that all taps of residents in arrears that were disconnected, should be opened in the fight against Covid-19.The municipality at Keetmanshoop reconnected the taps of 296 households.The public relations officer of the Keetmanshoop municipality, Dawn Kruger, on Wednesday said the N$650 000 is expected to increase as it was calculated from March to May.She said on average, those households that had their water reconnected used water worth N$422 per month.Other Covid expensesThe PRO urged the customers who had their water reconnected to pay their bills because as it stands, many customers are not paying their accounts.“We urge these customers to pay their bills, even the small amount they can afford and not just to sit and do nothing,” she said.Kruger further said the council spent N$150 000 on buying masks, gloves and sanitisers that were distributed to council employees and some vulnerable community members.“We also bought water tanks that are being used by community members to wash their hands, we put up tippy taps and water tanks for the vendors. This means our total expenses on the fight against Covid-19 at this point amount to at least N$800 000,” said Kruger.BudgetShe said council approved an estimated budget of about N$233.5 million for the 2020/21 financial year, a reduction of 0.06% from the nearly N$234 million in the previous financial year.“The total budgeted income is N$233 533 058 and the total budgeted expenditure is N$233 533 058 resulting in a balanced budget, as per ministerial directive that indicates that our expenses should be equal to our income which means the municipality must not make a profit,” she said.Kruger said the municipality put aside an amount of over N$17 million for capital projects at Keetmanshoop. However, she was not able to indicate what capital projects the municipality will embark on.“At this time I cannot give you the specifics on that as there are so many projects the municipality has to do, but now it is up to the council to sit and prioritise and according to that we can allocate the funds,” she said. - Nampa

Opened taps cost Keetmans N$650 000

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Opened taps cost Keetmans N$650 000

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