Durban — In addition to the four land parcels already approved for release for households affected by flooding earlier this year in KwaZulu-Natal, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) was processing another land parcel for release within the next two weeks.
This was according to Minister Patricia de Lille, who in a statement on Sunday said she was pleased to report that following her visit last week to inspect the work done by the (DPWI) to repair flood-damaged state-owned buildings in the province, she had approved the release of four state-owned land parcels for human settlement developments and accommodation for households affected by the April floods.
“I have signed off the release of four parcels of land on a gratis basis to be released to the Housing Development Agency (HDA) for human settlement development purposes. The four parcels of land are located in the eThekwini Metro and we are processing another land parcel for release within the next two weeks.”
She said following the flooding her department was called on to identify suitable and available land to resettle communities displaced.
“The five properties are located in the sub-regions of the eThekwini metro with access roads to the properties in good condition. After consideration of various factors, it was recommended that the five properties be released as they were deemed feasible for fully integrated human settlements,” said De Lille.
She stressed that the land would be transferred only to be used for the accommodation of households affected by the floods earlier this year and for human settlement development purposes.
Further, she said that following the transfer of the land, the HDA together with the metro and provincial government would be responsible for the development of the properties to accommodate displaced communities.
“We will continue to provide support in KZN in any way we can in terms of our mandate and work with all spheres of government to ensure that we restore KZN and help the many households in need. During my visit to the province earlier this week, the Deputy Minister, Noxolo Kiviet, and I inspected various repair work done by DPWI at state-owned properties and preparatory work by teams who have been deployed to install bridges in the province,” she said.
De Lille said work on the repairs to state-owned properties had progressed well and was almost 100% complete, while work was to start in earnest on the rural bridges in the coming weeks.
“We look forward to returning to the province later this year to hand over completed bridges to communities in need and ensure that they have proper and decent access to places of work, schools, hospitals, clinics and other amenities.”
Daily News