KZN premier briefs province on flood relief efforts
Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the National Department of Human Settlements has granted a total amount of R325m to the provincial department for the provision of emergency housing solutions.
KWAZULU-NATAL premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said the government plans to move thousands of families out of community care centres by the end of November.
Thousands of people were displaced and left homeless by heavy torrential rains in April and May this year that resulted in the loss of more than 440 lives and billions of rands worth of damage to infrastructure.
Dube-Ncube, who made the commitment at Truro Hall in Westville on Sunday, added that the National Department of Human Settlements has granted a total amount of R325m to the provincial department for the provision of emergency housing solutions.
This, she said, has enabled the delivery of Temporary Residential Units (TRU) which to date, stand at 1 315 Units provincially.
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“We are delighted to report that 80 shelters have now been linked to land parcels, but these land parcels are at different stages of readiness. We have established a specialised technical team led by the director-general that will focus on the programme of getting people out of community care centres and all the mop-up operations.
“We also have 19 buildings that we are looking at for temporary emergency accommodation. These include former student accommodation, former hotels and state-owned properties, etc. These facilities are currently not being used. They are in suburbs, including Westpoint, Montclair, and Ntuzuma. The criteria is that we look for existing accommodation and consider if it is habitable and whether it has basic services – water, electricity, sanitation, cooking facilities, laundry,” Dube-Ncube said.
Last month, the Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery raised concerns over the slow delivery of temporary residential units (TRUs).
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The premier said the province has built, to date, 1 315 TRUs. Out of that number, 1 202 have been occupied, leaving a difference 113 that are not occupied.
On the issue of repairs to damaged infrastructure, such as dams and water supply, Dube-Ncube said the province was making steady progress.
“The reconstruction of roads and infrastructure, especially in the Southern Basin, which became a scene of major destruction following the collapse of the Shongweni Dam, is well under way. The damage in this part of the province impacted negatively on the economy and affected companies such as Toyota and Transnet. We are making progress in rebuilding the water schemes that were washed away. We are on course to complete the construction work and to ensure the full restoration of water supply to the greater Othongathi area by November,” she said.
She added that repairs are underway on sewerage networks and sewerage pump stations with most of these repairs set to be completed by the end of November.
