​Ugu District Municipality’s 2018/19 fiscal year service delivery budget of R1 115 239, 769, was adopted during the sitting of the Ugu District Council  at the Port Shepstone Civic Centre yesterday.The adoption of the budget follows after it underwent public scrutiny by different communities during the annual IDP and Budget Road shows between April and May 2018.From 1 July 2018, our Municipality will commence to implement projects and programmes under the new budget aimed at developing the different communities and the people that live in those communities.The sizable allocations on all water and sanitation services will be used strategically and for maximum benefit to the communities. The Capital Budget has been allocated an amount of R254 889 000 while the Operating budget sits at R837 480 000. And the Municipal Surplus Budget is R22 870 769.We have made provision for free basic water and sanitation services to the indigent communities at R64 529 000 for Umdoni Municipality, R57 040 000 for Umzumbe Municipality, R146 778 000 for Ray Nkonyeni Municipality and R42 632 000 for Umuziwabantu Municipality.During the Budget Speech address, the Mayor, Cllr MA Chiliza announced that in the implementation of the 2018/19 budget, the Municipality will ensure clean financial administration in the form of sound fiscal management governance, combating any form of fraudulent and corrupt activities and receive a favourable audit opinion from the Auditor General.The provision of basic services to the Ugu community in the form of water and sanitation is the Municipality’s core constitutional mandate, and all four local municipalities have been considered in the budget with a fair share of the equitable share allocation to cater for the subsidy of water and sanitation services for indigent households living below the poverty threshold. The Equitable allocation includes water provision by standpipes, water tankers in the case of emergencies, repairs and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure amongst other programmes.The Municipality noted numerous requests made by the communities to top up the allocation of some special programmes. The Municipality has made an allocation of R600 000 for the Mayoral Bursary Fund and a provision of R150 000 has been made to address the lingering challenges of drugs and substance abuse affecting communities.The Municipality’s journey to triumph over the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality continues with the allocation of R14 845 000.00 for poverty alleviation programmes. A new project under this banner with a budget of R4 713 000. 00 will be launched this year which will focus on cleansing rivers, alien species, wetlands and springs.In concluding the budget speech, Mayor Chiliza acknowledged challenges face by the municipality saying, “We are doing all we can to ensure that we realise our vison and mission and we are pulling all the human and capital resources we have to positively touch everybody within our district. We look forward to a district that has 100 percent coverage of clean drinking water.”Ugu District Municipality promotes working together to create an environment that is friendly, responsive, accountable, effective and efficient for local communities.ENDSISSUED BY:UGU DISTRICT MUNICIPALITYFor more information and media queries contact:Senior Manager: Mayoralty and CommunicationsMr France ZamaFrance.Zama@ugu.websitesupport.co.za​