ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING – 27 OCTOBER 2023

The following decision was approved by Council at an Ordinary Council Meeting on 27 October 2023.

ITEM NO. 23/010/FED17

Incurring long term debt in terms of Section 17, 19 and 46 of the MFMA

The initiation of formal processes of sourcing external loan funding with immediate effect, in line with Section 17, 19 and 46 of the MFMA, for an amount of R200 million to repair the roads within Kouga was approved.

The roads within Kouga are in a poor state and require urgent repairs and maintenance to rehabilitate it to an acceptable condition. The roads have, furthermore, deteriorated over the past months due to the heavy, yet welcome, rain.

Based on a road maintenance plan, the municipality needs R348 million to successfully rehabilitate roads across the region (this amount was determined in May 2020).

To date, the municipality has utilised funds from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) to repair roads, but due to the magnitude of the problem the annual MIG funding will not be ale to accommodate the required work in the short term.

Therefore, the municipality will now apply for a loan of R200 million to assist in the rehabilitation of several critical roads in the Kouga region.