The municipality presented on its Asset Register and EPWP projects, and highlighted a number of challenges and suggested a few solutions. The municipality reported that it had a large population of indigent persons and that with the increase of the electricity tariffs more people are unable to afford the required payments. It was estimated that approximately 30 to 40 per cent of the people in Calvinia are unemployed or living in conditions of severe poverty. It was noted that if one wanted to make a difference in poor communities, then the municipality needed to concentrate on training. It was found that the municipality consisted of a large number of people who had either a grade 10 or matric qualification, but were unable to access places for skills development. Creating opportunities for training in the municipalities would assist with poverty alleviation. The town of Calvinia is 130 years old. Its infrastructure maintenance costs (for example the maintenance of sewage and water pipes) were very high. The municipality had very little land available to develop and efforts to develop certain land sites received several objections, mostly from external sources who indicated that a certain piece of land could not be developed due to a rare plant species or the heritage value of an existing structure.