In October 2017, TimesLIVE reported that Cape Town expected to bring its first desalination plants online only weeks before its dams were feared to run dry. Mayoral committee member Xanthea Limberg named February as the start date for Monwabisi and Strandfontein. Of 17 earmarked sites, several were excluded because they lay in protected coastal areas. Chris Braybrooke of Veolia argued the tender should have been completed half a year earlier. Provincial minister Anton Bredell warned of sharply higher water prices.
The report showed how tight the schedule for Cape Town's emergency desalination was in October 2017, and that industry experts openly called the late tendering a failure.
Source: TimesLIVE