Committees set up to decide if towns need more money for infrastructure

EASTERN Cape premier Noxolo Kiviet has set up a committee to analyse municipal infrastructure grants allocations – a team which could decide if Nelson Mandela Bay needs more money to address its R4.2-billion annual infrastructure backlog.

While she acknowledged the metro needed a bigger slice of the grant pie to address its ailing infrastructure, she said the onus was on the municipality to prioritise and use its budget properly.

In her state of the province address in Bhisho on Friday, Kiviet encouraged Eastern Cape municipalities to spend their municipal infrastructure grants (MIGs). She said newly established district appraisal committees would ensure the money allocated was spent properly.