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An urgent solution is needed to the ongoing load-shedding crisis in the province. Load-shedding has been implemented for several years now, and this has negatively impacted our municipalities' electrical infrastructure.

Some of the municipalities in the province do not have portable substations or generators to continue providing electricity to their customers should there be a prolonged outage after load-shedding.

This information was revealed in a reply to the DA's questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Mzi Khumalo.

According to the MEC, the City of Tshwane (CoT) does not have portable generators that will provide electricity to customers in the event of a trip post-load-shedding.

In the absence of an alternate supplier of electricity, prolonged outages cannot be mitigated by local distributors alone. For a solution to be found, the National Control Centre (NCC) is required to implement different measures to reduce the electricity demand.

The CoT has a plan to maintain the Wapadrand, Mooikloof, Pyramid, Monavoni, Pyramid, Monavoni and Kentron substations, which will have a total cost of R533 million.

It is clear that our electrical infrastructure is in dire need of maintenance, and some municipalities have indicated that they do not have sufficient budgets to carry out this maintenance.

This puts our residents on the back foot, especially where substations trip after load-shedding because of the lack of maintenance.

In addition, businesses operating in the area that are unable to afford generators are also at a disadvantage, which may cause them to close their doors, leading to further job losses in the province. This situation does not inspire investor confidence.

The DA will be putting pressure on MEC Khumalo to assist municipalities in ensuring that there is a proper budget in place to maintain our critical electrical infrastructure.

Issued by Patrick Atkinson MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Economic Development