Question NW2582 to the Minister of Human Settlements

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17 October 2022 - NW2582

Profile picture: Powell, Ms EL

Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Human Settlements

(1) What are the details of (a) any additional funding and/or (b) reprioritisation from her department that will be transferred to either the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial administration or the City of eThekwini for flood relief purposes over and above the different types of Human Settlements grants;

Reply:

a). Additional Funding

There is no additional funding for either the Province or the Metro of Human settlements grants provided in the current financial year.

b). Reprioritization

An amount of R340.3 million was reprioritised under Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) and R124.4 million under Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG). These reprioritised funds, as part of the 2022/23 annual allocations, have already been transferred to eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality for the reprioritization for the flooding disaster relief purposes. It should be noted that the above-stated funds are not additional funds but are part of the allocated 2022/23 financial year.

(2) What are the details of the impact of the above-mentioned local, provincial or national reprioritisation of any Human Settlements grants on the provision of housing and basic services in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial years? NW3097E

a) 2021-22 financial year

There were no declared disasters that necessitated the reprioritisation measure during the 2021/22 financial year. The Provinces and Metropolitan Municipalities were able to continue with the normal operational tasks as expected of them without any impact on the annual budgets allocated to the Province.

b) 2022-23 financial year

(i) KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Human Settlements

The natural disasters that occurred recently implied that the National Department had to approve the entire annual allocation of Provincial Emergency Housing Grant (PEHG) amounting to R326 million to assist the reported disaster of KwaZulu-Natal Province and therefore had no funds afterwards to assist any other Province with similar funding needs.

In the case of KwaZulu-Natal Province, an amount of R515 million (HSDG-R326 million and ISUPG – R189 million) was reprioritised by the Province to address the disaster and after the PEHG was approved, the Province decided to utilise the R326 million from PEHG and reverse the same amount which was reprioritised to address the disaster back to the HSDG. This implied that the Province still has the full annual allocation of HSDG of R2.9 billion to address human settlements needs for the 2022/23 financial year

(ii) eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality

The Metro reprioritised funds allocated under Urban Settlements Development Grant amounting to R340.3 million to cater for the following projects:

  • Sundry replacements (Blocksum) and replacement of network to ensure security of supply to existing customers - R14.4 million;
  • Repair of damaged road surface, sidewalks, manhole, storm recovery, bridges, catch pit, embankments Damaged gabion, road reinstatement and stormwater repairs in various areas – R218.4 million;
  • Marrianhill stormwater Protection and Environments Protection, replacement of Leachate Treatment Plants, Sundry Replacements (Blocksum) Lovu Landfill cell PH and Infrastructure, Bisassar Road Landfill – R72.3 million; and
  • Tongaat Water Treatment Works Remedial to storm damage – R35.2 million

Under the Informal Settlement Upgrading Partnership Grant, the Metro reprioritised an amount of R124.4 million to cater for:

  • Purchase of land in Quarry Road West and Ezingwenyeni Informal Settlements – R8 million; and
  • Three projects for refurbishment or rehabilitation of the infrastructure damaged by the storm in various informal settlements namely, Dassenhook Informal Settlement, Salvia Place Informal Settlement, Quarry Road Informal Settlement, Umlazi Z and Q Informal Settlement and Mayville Informal Settlement – R116.4 million.

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