What's up with Saasveld road?

GEORGE NEWS - The flood damage for the entire Garden Route region amounts to just under R488-million, of which about R302-million worth of damage has occurred in the George municipal area.

Taking into account funds available from its own budget, the shortfall for George is about R238-million, and for Oudtshoorn about R27-million, thus about R265-million in total to cover the repair work.

On provincial level, the damage in the Garden Route is divided under Human Settlements (about R149-million) and Transport and Public works (R74,6-million) for a total of over R223-million worth of damage.

The total cost for provincial (R223-million) and the local governments (R265-million) adds up to just under R488-million for the region.

The National Disaster Management Centre currently only has R100-million available for the whole country.

Saasveld road

The state of Madiba Drive (also known as Saasveld road) is a major concern for residents and students of the Nelson Mandela University. It has been inaccessible since the flash flood on 22 November.

The total cost estimate to repair the road is R4,5-million. Asked about their plans to fix the road, the spokesperson for the provincial department of transport and public works Jandré Bakker said it is currently anticipated that the project will reach practical completion by the end of March, subject to various factors, including the weather.

"Work on Main Road 355 commenced immediately after the flood event by means of obtaining an emergency environmental approval," said Bakker.

"Once the approval was in place earthworks commenced in preparation for the removal of the old Armco structure and access to the work area. The work is conducted via the use of inhouse resources to expedite completion."

He said Nelson Mandela University and other users of the road can use the alternative route via Wilderness and Seven Passes Road." Students and staff should allow for additional travel time from George."

Funds and grants

Spokesperson of the Garden Route District Municipality Herman Pieters said funding requests were done through the Western Cape Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to allocate disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction support.

"The Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) is aware of the funding shortages at the NDMC. They only have approximately R100-million available at the moment for the entire country," said Pieters.

"There is an alternative route though, which is for all departments to reprioritise and redirect their budgets to deal with the after-effects of the incident. Shortfalls thus need to be identified in the upcoming 2022/23 budget, which is available after April 2022."

George Mayor Leon van Wyk said in a council meeting on Monday 31 January that the municipality did a determination of the extent of the damage that were submitted as claims, in terms of the Disaster Management Committee requirements.

"The NDMC has recommended that over R230-million of these claims be approved. It is not clear when these grants will be paid out, but we expect that this will only be forthcoming in a future financial year. Within our claims we also made provision, as requested, for preventative measures for such eventualities in the future."

Pieters said the GRDM and others in Garden Route Local Government are aware that NDMC grants are running low for 2021/22.

"Alternative funding processes could still take a couple of months. The GRDM DMC and Western Cape PDMC have done everything required to prepare and submit disaster grant applications. For now, the GRDM remains in contact with the NDMC on a frequent basis to monitor progress made and to place pressure on them to fast-track processes on their side."

Saasveld Road from Wilderness' side: this is what the construction site currently looks like.