New training yard handed over as water department plans to train more artisans

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Water and sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the ambassador of Japan, Norio Maruyama officially hand over a multimillion rand training yard and launched the training programme on non-revenue water on Monday, 22 March.

The training yard, which is in Roodeplaat, Gauteng, covers the basics of training artisans to deal with water losses in communities. The design of the training yard was done by the department’s engineers, with technical support from the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

A South African company was contracted by JICA to construct the training yard. The Japanese government, through JICA, funded the construction of the training facility.

The handover of the facility took place on the last day of South Africa’s National Water Week, commemorated from 15-22 March 2021.

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“DWS engineers will handle all the activities, including the maintenance of the training yard, to ensure sustainability of the programme.

“The training yard is completed and ready to be handed over to the South African government by the Japanese government,” said Water and Sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.