Jozi@Work creates jobs in big river cleanup drive

17 May 2016

 

The polluted river passing through Finetown and Lenasia in the City of Johannesburg’s Region G is to be cleaned up, improving the environment and giving work opportunities to dozens of local residents at the same time.

 

This was one of two work packages announced during a Jozi@Work briefing session in Ennerdale on Monday May 16.

The R3-billion empowerment and job creation programme is the brainchild of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau aimed at tackling poverty, unemployment and inequality by giving co-operatives and small township businesses the opportunity to provide municipal services such as cleaning, gardening, landscaping, refuse removal, repairs and maintenance.

More than 3 000 co-operatives and township businesses have registered for the Jozi@Work programme and a further 3 399 existing companies have expressed interest in the initiative. The planned cleanup of the river passing through Finetown and Lenasia, a project of the City’s Environmental and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD), was warmly welcomed by residents who had packed the Ennerdale Civic Centre on Monday, especially as it is labour-intensive and will improve the quality of their environment.

The two areas had been faced with a spate of incidents of illegal dumping of domestic waste near the stream and river. EISD officials did not quantify the value on the project.
The company to be appointed to carry out the work will be expected to remove solid waste from the river, its banks and channels on both sides. It will also be required to clear overgrown grass and collect and transport waste from site.

As part of the brief, the company will be required to encourage communities to be river ambassadors in a new effort to reduce illegal dumping of solid waste. Work on the project is scheduled to start on July 1 and finish on September 30. At the same briefing, Johannesburg Water, the City’s water and sanitation provision entity, announced a R833 000 work package for the repair of broken kerbs and paving in water-related projects.

The project is scheduled to start in July 2016 and finish in July 2018. Co-operatives and small businesses have until Monday May 23 to bid for the two work package.