The City of Cape Town's housing department says it would be impossible to move to drier land everyone affected by flooding in the 49 informal settlements in which it is offering relief.
Housing executive director Hans Smit said the city would be moving people only in "exceptional cases".
On Tuesday the city is to meet the 220 families tucked away on the embankment of the railway bridge on Vanguard Drive to discuss their permanent relocation.
Smit said Little Kosovo, on the edges of Langa, had been identified as the biggest single problem area because of the flooding.
But it would be several days before the city could prepare an alternative site for them to move to, Smit said.
"We don't want to put them in an area where they could end up in a worse situation, and where it could give rise to other problems."
Smit declined to say which sites the city was considering moving people to, for fear that this might give rise to land invasions.
The city is helping more than 38,000 people in 8,035 shacks in 49 informal settlements. The biggest single area is Phola Park in Gugulethu, where 3,500 people living in 883 shacks are affected.
About 2,500 people in 623 shacks in the Small Business Development Centre at Philippi are also among the hardest hit.
The city has not ranked areas receiving assistance according to the severity of flooding.
At a special sitting of the council on Monday, some African National Congress councillors complained that officials were not aware of all the areas affected by floods and in need of help.
Mayor Helen Zille said the city's winter readiness programme simply could not meet the challenges posed by the recent heavy rains.
"In 2006 our winter readiness programme worked well. For 2007 it buckled under the combined force of four major storms in one week."
The city remained on the alert for further flooding this week, Zille said.
With a slight let-up in the heavy weather on Monday, the director for development services Noahmaan Hendricks flew over the city in a helicopter to take stock of the situation.
He said the flooding of informal settlements would not necessarily increase their priority for resettlement.
The city's master plan for informal settlement relocation lists 222 settlements in order of priority, based on myriad factors, including flooding.
Hendricks said while in some instances the latest floods could affect a particular settlement's priority ranking, it might also have no effect.
"We are not going to move people ahead of others just because they have been flooded. The floods will not prioritise people over and above those prioritised collectively." ... Cape Argus
Housing executive director Hans Smit said the city would be moving people only in "exceptional cases".
On Tuesday the city is to meet the 220 families tucked away on the embankment of the railway bridge on Vanguard Drive to discuss their permanent relocation.
Smit said Little Kosovo, on the edges of Langa, had been identified as the biggest single problem area because of the flooding.
But it would be several days before the city could prepare an alternative site for them to move to, Smit said.
"We don't want to put them in an area where they could end up in a worse situation, and where it could give rise to other problems."
Smit declined to say which sites the city was considering moving people to, for fear that this might give rise to land invasions.
The city is helping more than 38,000 people in 8,035 shacks in 49 informal settlements. The biggest single area is Phola Park in Gugulethu, where 3,500 people living in 883 shacks are affected.
About 2,500 people in 623 shacks in the Small Business Development Centre at Philippi are also among the hardest hit.
The city has not ranked areas receiving assistance according to the severity of flooding.
At a special sitting of the council on Monday, some African National Congress councillors complained that officials were not aware of all the areas affected by floods and in need of help.
Mayor Helen Zille said the city's winter readiness programme simply could not meet the challenges posed by the recent heavy rains.
"In 2006 our winter readiness programme worked well. For 2007 it buckled under the combined force of four major storms in one week."
The city remained on the alert for further flooding this week, Zille said.
With a slight let-up in the heavy weather on Monday, the director for development services Noahmaan Hendricks flew over the city in a helicopter to take stock of the situation.
He said the flooding of informal settlements would not necessarily increase their priority for resettlement.
The city's master plan for informal settlement relocation lists 222 settlements in order of priority, based on myriad factors, including flooding.
Hendricks said while in some instances the latest floods could affect a particular settlement's priority ranking, it might also have no effect.
"We are not going to move people ahead of others just because they have been flooded. The floods will not prioritise people over and above those prioritised collectively." ... Cape Argus
1 comment:
To the tune of "We are Sailing"
We are sinking we are sinking
Tween the mountains and into the sea
We are sinking we are sinking
Both you and me.
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