Loan deal signed for district landfill

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GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) signed a loan agreement with Standard Bank of South Africa for an amount of R278,25m to fund the construction of its regional waste management facility in Mossel Bay.

The agreement was signed on Monday, 3 July, at the GRDM council chambers. The waste facility will initially serve Bitou, Knysna, George and Mossel Bay.

PHOTO GALLERY: Construction of regional waste management facility

GRDM municipal manager Monde Stratu said the waste management site was an essential solution for the four participating municipalities.

"A site handover meeting was held with the Tefla Group (Pty) Ltd on 13 June, which means the project is on track as planned. Today is quite an exciting moment for us and I never thought it would happen in my tenure here at the GRDM. It was not an easy process to get to this point."

Junaid Sonday, Standard Bank provincial head: public sector, said the bank had an excellent track record in partnering with local government in the Garden Route.

He said the bank was impressed with previous acting chief financial officer Thembani Loliwe's comments during a discussion on credit risks. "Thembani Loliwe was instrumental in adding value to credit risk committee discussions, swiftly identifying and addressing risk factors within the first few minutes after deliberations started."

The publication of the public participation process regarding the loan agreement was approved and concluded in December 2022.

During the negotiations, Standard Bank requested that participating municipalities provide council resolutions confirming their support and participation in the project.

These resolutions were sourced from the participating municipalities, namely Bitou, Knysna, George and Mossel Bay Municipality.

GRDM is entering into agreements with participating municipalities in accordance with section 33 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

The project timeline is as follows:

Contractor on site: June 2023
Completion of phase 1: February 2024
Estimated completion of the project: March 2025.

An exciting, historical moment for GRDM and Standard Bank shortly after the loan agreement was signed. Pictured are Junaid Sonday, Standard Bank provincial head: public sector (left), with Monde Stratu, GRDM municipal manager.