Devastation caused by flooding in Port St Johns.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has approved R128 million for humanitarian support in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces following the recent floods that devastated coastal communities.
The R128m will serve vulnerable communities, delivering much-needed support in water and sanitation services, adequate temporary housing and much-needed road infrastructure to enable mobility. Key to the funding is the drive to help kickstart and amplify social and human activity, ensuring that citizens in these affected areas rebuild their livelihoods.
In the Eastern Cape, the support will include water infrastructure, the provision of clean water, road infrastructure and replacement homes, all worth over R49 million.
As disaster relief is urgently needed in KwaZulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, humanitarian support will be rolled out immediately to start providing relief to the most affected communities.
The DBSA said it’s Infrastructure Delivery Division will take the lead in implementing the humanitarian intervention. Working with them will be various teams of infrastructure development experts within the bank providing engineering, project management, quantity surveying and supply chain management support. Funding and payment approvals will be managed in house and paid according to completed milestones.
DBSA chief executive Patrick Dlamini said: “We witnessed the devastation in the two provinces and the follow-on impact to people’s lives of a complete stop to social and economic activity. We are hoping to help kickstart the rebuilding of our fellow citizens’ lives, complementing the government’s ongoing disaster relief activities.
The funding is earmarked to help increase access to basic services such as clean water, electricity, community mobility, housing for vulnerable households headed by the elderly, children and differently abled people.”
