Cape Town - Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille has said that the first phase of the small harbours repairs and maintenance programme at 13 proclaimed fishing harbours in the Western Cape – such as Hermanus Harbour and Saldanha Harbour – is in full swing and making good progress.
At an update on the progress of strategic integrated projects (SIPs) in the infrastructure investment plan, De Lille said that Phase 1, which is currently being implemented by her department, entailed the refurbishment and upgrades of the harbours to an 80% operational efficiency.
“The repair programme is just over 97% completed and is expected to be fully completed by March.”
She said the project had created 894 job opportunities and benefited local small businesses to the value of R114 million. In April last year she and Infrastructure South Africa head Dr Kgosientso Ramokgopa conducted a site visit to the Saldanha Bay Harbour project and in December they opened the refurbished multi-purpose centre at Hermanus Harbour.
This facility was being used by local traders as part of efforts to stimulate local economic growth and create jobs for the surrounding coastal communities.
During the briefing, Minister De Lille addressed a number of other issues related to her department.
These included the progress with specialised structural engineering assessment work to make the fire damaged Parliament buildings safe for access.
She said that the Coega Development Corporation, which was appointed by the department to conduct an independent assessment of the fire damage at Parliament, had delivered its initial assessment report and it would be communicated to the media and public as soon as it had been finalised.
She said it would include the proposed preliminary cost estimate of the rehabilitation project and a pronouncement on possible long-term restorative measures.
Dr Ramokgopa said the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa, which was launched in 2020, identified a large number of projects of which 50 were gazetted.
He said that 29 of the 50 projects were either complete or in implementation to the value of R119 billion out of the R340 billion announced during the 2021 conference.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za