Sanral, KZN pool disaster resources

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) and the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial Road Maintenance Grant have pooled resources to repair roads, bridges and railways that were destroyed in the devastating floods last month.

Since the declaration of the state of disaster, Sanral and Prasa have been calculating the cost of the disaster in their respective spaces.

KZN had initially requested assistance to the tune of R5.7 billion for infrastructure repair.

Sanral has now allocated R3.1 billion to repair projects, with KZN reprioritising its budget to reroute R2.6 billion to make up the balance.

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula warned that repairs would not translate to immediate reopening of roads or railway lines because the level of damage requires construction and rehabilitation that may take months to complete.

Declaring the national state of disaster on 18 April, President Cyril Ramaphosa designated Sanral as the lead agency to repair roads in the province, with an immediate focus on the N2 and N3 highways.

Part of the earlier relief measures included suspending toll fees on the N2 highway near Tongaat and Mvoti, as alternative roads collapsed in the flood damage.

Sanral will prioritise repairs where communities remain completely cut off because roads are impassable forcing diversion of traffic to substandard alternative routes or toll roads.

Repair and rehabilitation work on the N2 and N3 is already underway at a total cost of R542.5 million. This work will be funded from the Sanral budget.

The Prasa rail network in KZN was not spared the devastation of the floods.

The disaster compounded an already challenged rail network that had been hit hard by theft and vandalism of rail infrastructure.

Service recovery for the commuter rail is expected to take place in phases due to the severity of the impact of the floods on the rail network.

The first phase will focus on restoring safe train movement in areas where damage was limited.

“We anticipate achieving recovery in the north between one to three months, particularly in areas where the damage is not as severe,” said Mbalula.

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Deputy Minister Njabulo Nzuza also handed out new identity documents (IDs) to residents who lost their personal documents in the devastating floods.

The department is reissuing death/birth certificates and IDs free of charge to residents who have been affected.