Western Cape govt budgets R60m to help poor during load shedding
The Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says the provincial government has set aside R60 million to provide thousands of indigent households with load shedding emergency kits.
The project is an effort to lessen the impact of load shedding during winter.
Winde says the kit will include a rechargeable light, facility to charge a phone and a cooking bag.
"Part of our R1,1 billion budget for energy in the Western Cape is risk mitigation specifically for indigent households, we have R60 million in the budget for this. The estimated idea is that a house would get a pack that would be about R600 worth of value.
"Our R60 million will cover 100 000 households and we estimate that we need about 250 000 and we also engaging business sector, local government. They would consist of probably rechargeable light, a facility to charge a phone and probably a cooking bag to help with keeping the food warm when you are on load shdding."
Winde says the packs still have to be completed in the design phase and go to procurement.
"We are still busy consultation process, and we really want to get this going this winter and actually start mitigating the risk for those families. There is also criteria involved, and all that have to be finalised and signed off. This is part of our overall package in mitigating risks is just another area to show as government that we care."
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