The province has made major progress to get back on its feet after the devastating April 2022 floods.
KwaZulu Natal Premier Nomusa Dube Ncube highlighted this and other issues on Thursday afternoon, following the ordinary sitting of the Provincial Executive Council on Wednesday evening.
At the top of its agenda, the Executive Council assessed progress the province had made to reverse the economic impact of numerous tragedies and setbacks that engulfed the province of KwaZulu-Natal within a space of three years.
“I am happy to report that major progress has been made to get the province fully back on its feet after the devastating floods that wreaked havoc just over a year ago. We are on track with our rebuilding plans and great progress has been made to restore infrastructure and to revive the economy. While we are certain that all affected persons are safe in temporary accommodation government secured, the focus has firmly shifted to rebuilding infrastructure and rehousing people who have lost homes through sustainable rehabilitation and reconstruction (Building Back Better) programme,” said the premier.
She said the provincial government continued to focus on repairing road infrastructure which had been damaged by last year’s floods.
“We are highlighting these because this is where the province suffered major damages totalling to about R5.7 billion,” said Ms Ncube-Dube.
She said the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, working with the South African National Roads SoE Limited (SANRAL) had done exceptionally well in restoring mobility in the province.
With the majority of the more than 730 priority projects identified, and successfully repaired, those remaining to be completed were delayed because of the use of internal teams, the appointment of specialist contractors and compliance with the Supply Chain Management process.
A number of projects are nearing completion.
On the R74 in KwaMaphumulo where there was a sinkhole, work is expected to be completed before October 2023; on the N2 uMhlali River bridge by August 2023 and on the N2 in uMgababa work is under way. On the M4 Tongaat River Bridge, last week MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Sipho Hlomuka announced the the start of repair work at a cost of R54 million.
Ms Ncube-Dube said more than R1 billion had already been paid out to KwaZulu-Natal businesses affected by the July 2021 unrest in keeping with government’s measures to provide support and relief.
These measures have been implemented through the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the IDC Critical Infrastructure Reconstruction Programme. A total of 118 applications from local businesses were approved at a value of R1.980 billion (of which R1 billion has already been paid).
The National Empowerment Fund and IDC Critical Infrastructure Reconstruction Programme have allocated more than R4444 million to eThekwini, R6.5 million to uMgungundlovu, R26.7 million to King Cetshwayo, R88 million to Ugu, R36.4 million to Amajuba, R10.5 million to uMzinyathi, R27.2 million to Harry Gwala, R3 million to uMkhanyakude, R3.9 million to Zululand, and R12.7 million to iLembe, totalling R1.86 billion in funds dispersed to business in KwaZulu-Natal.
Through the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), to date a total of 75 applications valued at R78 822 730.34 for businesses affected by the July civil unrest have been approved across the department with most of these in eThekwini which received R102 492 535. 01 for 75 businesses.
There was also a programme to provide support and relief to poor households, in order to alleviate the hardship, they are going through and reduce hunger and the need to help businesses to rebuild.
She said while the KZN Department of Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs had no resources set aside to assist affected businesses in the province, the Department was at the centre of coordinating the National Relief Measures.
“Against this backdrop, KZNEDTEA has put tremendous effort in coordinating these national relief measures working with the DTIC, DSBD and all the DFIs such as SEFA, SEDA UIF, IDC, NEF and the Solidarity Fund to ensure wider coverage whilst dealing with potential double dipping. The allocated funds amount to R3.75 billion to cover uninsured businesses.
“We are also keeping a close eye on the Nhlungwane Bridge linking Inanda and Ntuzuma. While there were initially disruptions in these projects, we are glad now that work has resumed. We would want to see this project completed within the next four months,” she said.
Highlighting other infrastructure catalytic projects including the construction on the N3 and N2, premier Ncube-Dube asked for tolerance and patience.
“These are important construction projects for our province. We appeal for maximum tolerance as there will be huge traffic congestion during the construction, but once all is done, we will see a facelift of our infrastructure landscape and road network to the benefit of all,” she said.