Durban Chamber of Commerce raises alarm over eThekwini Municipality's R1 billion in unspent infrastructure grants
It stated that with eThekwini Municipality's ongoing service delivery challenges, this not only reflects poor governance within the municipality but also represents significant missed opportunities to create a more enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
The Mercury recently reported that there have been concerns that close to a billion rand in grants have not been spent. While the mayor's office expressed general concerns about under-expenditure, it stated that it intends to spend 95% of the grants.
The chamber said Durban's water and sanitation system is under severe strain, with much of its infrastructure, such as pipelines and treatment facilities, ageing and deteriorating.
'The growing water demand continues to place additional pressure on the system. Furthermore, poor management of the City's stormwater networks is increasing the City's vulnerability to flooding. These challenges have become a serious concern for businesses, many of which are experiencing operational downtime and have been forced to explore alternative options to sustain their operations,' said the chamber in a statement.
It noted that despite these challenges and the urgent need to upgrade deteriorating infrastructure, the capital budget is on a declining trajectory. 'According to the Durban EDGE (2025), National Treasury guidelines indicate that 20% of the total budget should be allocated to capital infrastructure expenditure. However, in our current budget, only 9.95% has been allocated for capital expenditure, which is far below the recommended threshold.
'As organised business, we recognise that infrastructure plays a critical role in sustaining business confidence, fostering rapid economic growth, and investment in Durban,' it said.
The statement outlined that the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC believes efforts should be focused on:
Improving the regulatory framework
Regular maintenance, refurbishment, and replacement of critical infrastructure
Increasing infrastructure investment through public-private partnerships
Reducing non-revenue water
'The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC, together with the private sector, is committed to working with the City to address the infrastructure challenges. We have submitted a proposal to the City to address these challenges through a PPP model but have not received any commitment to date,' it said.
'There needs to be accountability and transparency. Failing to spend allocated grants efficiently has the potential to lead to further deterioration of infrastructure, which will have far-reaching implications for our economy. Therefore, we urge eThekwini Municipality to review its bureaucratic systems, fast-track priority infrastructure projects urgently, and actively involve the business sector to ensure that available funding is utilised efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the City and businesses,' it concluded
THE MERCURY
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