Durban — The national Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) says it has allocated R3.1 billion from disaster grants to fix damaged infrastructure that includes roads and bridges in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape following the floods.
In a parliamentary written question, the EFF’s Nontando Nolutshungu asked Cogta Minister Thembi Nkadimeng for a list of all bridges and roads that were damaged by the floods in KZN and the Eastern Cape.
Nkadimeng provided the list of all damaged infrastructure Cogta received from the two provinces. KZN had the highest number of damaged bridges and roads. She said that fixing damaged roads and bridges was the responsibility of the affected provinces and municipalities as per their respective legislated mandates.
“However, following the applications by these affected organs of state, Cogta allocated an amount of R3.1bn (R3 060 038 000 for KZN and R113 511 000 for the Eastern Cape) from the disaster grants to augment the resources of the affected organs of state to fix the damaged infrastructure that includes roads and bridges in the Eastern Cape and KZN respectively,” Nkadimeng said.
She said that a total of 1 507 roads and bridges respectively were funded by Cogta to be fixed by the responsible organs of the state (four bridges in the Eastern Cape and 153 bridges in KZN) (21 roads in the EC and 1 350 roads in KZN).
“The fixing of the damaged infrastructure that could not be funded from the disaster grants is the responsibility of the affected organs of the state through existing programmes and arrangements as per the Disaster Management Act, 57 of 2002 (Act 57 of 2002),” Nkadimeng said.
She added that the time frames for fixing infrastructure still not yet fixed were determined by the responsible organs of state in line with their existing arrangements.
Meanwhile, in another parliamentary written question, the IFP’s Sbuyiselwe Buthelezi asked Nkadimeng whether, considering that her department had briefed the Portfolio Committee on Cogta regarding the Disaster Contingency Plan for the upcoming winter, her department had identified areas to be allocated for housing across all provinces in order to avoid a repetition of flood victims being displaced and having to live in community halls for an indefinite time.
In response, Nkadimeng said: “The department has not identified areas to be allocated for housing across all provinces. The identification of suitable land and the development of that land is an ongoing collaborative effort among relevant organs of state, i.e. provincial and local government, Human Settlements and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as per their respective legislated mandates.
“The department through the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) together with the Provincial Disaster Management Centres across the country continues to provide support to relevant organs of state in the implementation of sustainable interventions including the identification of suitable land for rebuilding and settlement of communities for building back better, to promote resilience, prevent or minimise the impacts of flooding incidents. The organs of state are further supported in the development of Disaster Management Contingency Plans and implementation of the plans thereof.”
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