Mayor says damage to infrastructure amounts to R600m

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Damage to Nelson Mandela Bay infrastructure from a week of heavy flooding has been put at R600m by Metro Mayor Zanoxolo Wayile.

Speaking at a media briefing at the Joint Operations Centre a short while ago, Wayile said the figure did not include damage to private property in the Metro.

It also does not include damage estimates for the rest of the Eastern Cape which are also expected to run into hundreds of millions of rands.

Wayile said his office would be asking National Government to declare the Metro a disaster area in order to access disaster funding.

"The preliminary assessment of the damage, very clearly indicates massive damage to our infrastructure, our aging infrastructure definitely contributed to the extend of the flooding" Wayile said.

Speaking at the same media briefing, Metro Disaster management chief Shane Brown said more than 4 000 people had been assisted during the flooding.

He said living conditions for many residents of the Metro remained very difficult.

"Many people are still receiving assistance, also bearing in mind that many of our residents, especially in the informal settlements, still have their homes knee deep under water, many of those people are living in water, also being hesitant of moving out of their homes out of fear of theft and other issues" Brown said