Through the efforts of the ward 28 councillor’s office, the Beacon Bay Library will open the doors to its new computer room in early December.
The computer room was initially envisioned by previous ward councillor Marion Mackley, whose term ended before the project was completed.
Mackley initiated the procurement of the computers in 2019, however, they could not be moved into the intended room due to the leaking roof on one side of the room.
A request made to Buffalo City Municipality to repair the leaking roof, however, went unanswered.
Current ward councillor, Frederick Pohl, insisted the computers be moved into the room in April this year and stationed on one side of the room away from the leak.
A new request was issued to BCM to repair the leak and a tender has since been issued.
The cost to install the computers, R360,000, is being used from the 2019 ward-based fund, while Vumatel will sponsor the 1G fibre connection and a local internet service provider will render the service.
This will be concluded within the next three weeks.
Pohl said: “The computer room will provide computer access to students and learners and the public who do not have access to the internet.
“The centre can also serve as a hotspot for internet access, where people can sit and work during the day.
“The computer centre will be available to all members of the Beacon Bay Library to use and any person can also use the library to access the internet free of charge from his or her own laptop, provided they become library members.”
Linda van Heerden, from the Border Kei Chamber of Business Good Deeds committee, will be providing computer skills and professional development programmes at the centre.
She said: “I will be doing basic computer training, covering setting up an email account on Gmail, compiling a CV and searching for and applying for job vacancies. Hopefully we can offer more than the basics going forward.”
