Over the past three years, the iconic seaside town of Port St Johns, dubbed the “crown jewel of the Wild Coast”, has attracted national attention due to repeated flooding in the area, which often leaves residents homeless.
The municipality has now launched a project aimed at minimising the effect of flooding and heavy downpours.
On Tuesday, acting mayor Xolile Moni announced that a contractor had been appointed for an R8.4m, project to upgrade and clean up the town’s stormwater drainage system and resurface an important road.
He told the Dispatch the money had been sourced from the disaster funds given to the municipality by the national government.
The funds would be used for phase 1 of the six-month project, which would include the upgrading of pipes and the resurfacing of a 1km stretch of Creek Street, one of the town’s busiest roads.
Moni said the project would also help create a safer, more efficient road network for motorists and pedestrians while stimulating the local economy.
The authorities believe the lack of an effective stormwater drainage system worsened the effect of the devastating floods that damaged sections of the crucial R61 route between Libode and Port St Johns.
“The whole project needs R35m. Phase 2 is already at a tendering stage.
“We project that we should be approving the tender by October. We are concerned that the rains are going to come very soon,” Moni said.
On the resurfacing of Creek Street, he said engineers had indicated that overgrown reeds in a small stream under a bridge had worsened the flooding by slowing the flow of water into the Umzimvubu River.
“The resurfacing will include block paving of the 1km surface,” Moni said.
“We have existing stormwater pipes that we are planning to upgrade.
“They are very small and about 400m in diameter but we want to increase their capacity to around 600m to 700m in diameter.”
Culverts would also be constructed.
The national government announced plans a few years ago to build a small harbour in the scenic town, which is blessed by beautiful beaches and a dazzling mountain landscape.
In 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed that Port St Johns would one day become SA’s “tourism jewel”.
However, after yet more floods last year which left more than 300 people homeless, premier Oscar Mabuyane said: “As much as we like the spot where the town is, it can remain a tourist attraction, but the town definitely must be looked at because it’s a problem.
“The town planners and authorities have got to look at that and communities must be open to that discussion.”
He said it was inevitable that the town would have to be relocated elsewhere.
Ramaphosa, meanwhile, said: “Our town planning at the municipal level needs to be a lot better than it is.”
On Wednesday, Moni said the municipality had set up committees to identify the areas that were prone to flooding in and around the town, including the villages, to ensure people could be evacuated before disasters unfolded.
The municipality was also working on a climate change plan, he said.
Though he applauded the stormwater drain project, Port St Johns Business Chamber chair Nzamela Ncoyini called for more infrastructure investment in the area.
He said when floods happened, “the entire economy of PSJ came to a complete stop”.
Hawkers who often lost their stock were particularly badly affected.
He said the town’s infrastructure dated back to before 1976 and had been built to cater for few people and businesses in town.
“We wish more money could be channelled towards infrastructure development as if you invest heavily in it, the investors will automatically line up to come to PSJ,” Ncoyini said.
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