Durban — EThekwini Municipality has received R20 million from the National Treasury Infrastructure Skills Development Grant (ISDG) to improve engineering skills development.
A report from the eThekwini Governance and Human Resources Committee will be presented before a full council meeting on Thursday, in which the city manager is asked to enter into an agreement with the National Treasury to continue participating in the graduate ISDG internship programme as per a business plan.
The city manager will also be requested to authorise and enter into a service level agreement between eThekwini Municipality and Umgeni Water. Previously authority for this was granted by the municipal council in July 2019.
The report stated that R35m had been approved and gazetted in the 2022/2023 financial year. The amount will be transferred into the municipality’s primary account in two tranches.
The report stated that the first amount of R20m was transferred on July 22, 2022. The second transfer was scheduled for January 27, 2023, subject to the municipality complying with the set conditions of the ISDG as set out in the grant framework.
The report said this would develop engineering and technology graduates and equip them to achieve professional registration in engineering-related fields and form part of a pool of such skills within the municipality.
The report stated the committee supported the programme, and requested a breakdown of costs in terms of activities to be undertaken, using the R35m, and an outline of benefits to be achieved by the municipality under the programme.
Daily News