The eThekwini Municipality is expected to spend R3.9 billion in the next three years to replace old vehicles in the city fleet
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The eThekwini Municipality says it needs R3.9 billion to replace some of its ageing fleet of vehicles over the next three years.
The municipality has a fleet of 9,240 vehicles across all departments. The Finance Committee report presented to the Executive Committee (Exco) on Tuesday stated that approximately 30% of the current fleet has exceeded its replacement date.
The municipality stated that 1,000 vehicles need to be replaced annually and that historically, funding has not been available to address the vehicle replacement programme due to competing budgetary requirements from other municipal projects and service delivery mandates.
“Whatever budgetary provisions were made available had to be prioritised for critical replacements and new requests, which has resulted in a backlog in fleet replacement,” the report stated, in motivation for the budget.
The municipality faced several challenges, including vehicles requiring major driveline repairs, such as engine overhauls, which they stated were undertaken uneconomically .
The municipality also faced an increase in unplanned maintenance for repairs because vehicles experienced frequent breakdowns as they get older .
The committee noted that the maintenance budget increased because of the ageing fleet and also outlined that the backlog in vehicle replacement was impacting vehicle availability and service delivery.
A breakdown of vehicle capacity per directorate shows the most vehicles are in water and sanitation (2,074), energy management (1,850), recreation and parks (860), cleansing and solid waste (858), Durban Transport (565), metro police (552), security management (177), and human settlements (86).
Another statistical breakdown in the report on the fleet replacement cycle listed light delivery vehicles (12 years), motorcycles (10 years), buses (10 years), heavy trucks (15 years), and the mayoral fleet (5 years).
A breakdown of the replacement cost per directorate is: fleet management and administration (R1.82 billion), energy management (R619 million), water and sanitation (R466.3 million), fire and emergency (R193 million) and waste management (R18.2 million).
The municipality's stated that procurement plans were in place. They have secured long-term contracts for vehicle procurement, and authority has been obtained to use National Treasury transversal contracts.
Dr. Sandile Mnguni, Chief Financial Officer of eThekwini Municipality, said the backlog had risen over the years.
“Some of the buses have been in service for over 12 years. We are paying more for maintenance, and at the same time, we need to accelerate service delivery on the ground," he said.
eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said the municipality ordered 266 vehicles in the past financial year, with an estimated 100 vehicles expected to be delivered by December 2026.