KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said that R5.6 billion would be needed to fix the province’s roads in consequence of the floods.
Zikalala said that all recovery funds would be used wisely, saying that they’d learnt lessons from the Covid-19 relief efforts.
‘The estimated cost for road infrastructure damage is preliminarily sitting at R5.6 billion and this includes 1,369 infrastructure projects across the province. Short-term intervention will be done, which includes identifying locations where access has been lost completely due to crossings being washed away,’ Zikalala said.
Zikalala said that most provincial roads were unsafe for use at present.
‘Urgent repairs and removal of debris is under way to restore the road network to its safe conditions again. Most roads that have been blocked have so far been cleared, in some cases allowing single-lane access,’ he said.
The premier said that massive work needed to be done to fix the roads.
Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal government said that it had set aside R1 billion to assist residents after homes were damaged. Zikalala said that more than 10,000 homes had been affected.
According to Zikalala, a total of 8,329 houses are partially damaged and 3,987 have been completely destroyed; a total of 13,556 households have been affected in different ways.
The premier has promised that those without shelter would be relocated. Zikalala said that people who had built houses along riverbanks would be prioritised.
‘In reality, no building should have ever been allowed to be erected at such a location. As part of the future plans, we should implement a no building line across all municipalities using the Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act,’ he said.