Flooding damage repaired – Bitou gets new, improved Poortjies Reticulation Plant

Bitou Municipality and Minister Anton Bredell representing Western Cape Disaster Management will launch the successful relocation of the Poortjies Reticulation Plant on 29 January 2015. 

The Plant handles the sewage of approximately 1,650 housing dwellings, serving approximately 6,600 people. The successful plant relocation to higher ground will ensure that Bitou municipality is less likely to experience damage as a result of flooding in the area.

The relocation is in response to seasonal flooding that hit the Eden District Municipality in June 2011 followed by major flooding in July and August 2012 that resulted in critical damage to the infrastructure. 

The 2012 floods necessitated Western Cape Disaster Management (WCDM) to approach the Western Cape Cabinet to consider the declaration of a provincial disaster as three district municipal boundaries, namely Cape Winelands, Overberg, and Eden, had been affected.

Bitou Municipality and WCDM also approached the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to consider recommending contributions from National Treasury to assist the affected organs of state to reconstruct and rehabilitate their damaged infrastructure.

In December 2012 the NDMC performed a project verification for the Bitou Poortjies Reticulation Plant following damage caused by the floods. The emergency project received approval for the Municipal Disaster Grant and on 5 February 2013 Bitou received funding for R13 835 080.00 to repair critical infrastructure that had been damaged. 

The success of this project is underpinned by strong intergovernmental relations on all three spheres and their committed officials involved.

The Western Cape Government strives to better the lives of its citizens through projects such as the Poortjies Reticulation Plant in Bitou Municipality in order to serve communities where needs are the greatest.