KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport purchases Montclair Lodge for displaced flood victims
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IN A FORWARD-STEPPING move the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and Human Settlements has purchased a property that will aid its mission to house families that were displaced by recent floods that lashed the province.
It was the department's intention to avoid the practice of utilising privately owned property to accommodate displaced people.
MEC Siboniso Duma confirmed that the department he headed had purchased the Montclair Lodge from Transnet for R33 million — the facility, which includes 268 rooms with a bed capacity of 600, that will be repurposed to house over 150 evicted flood victims.
'We wish to announce that we have bought this facility, the Montclair Lodge, from Transnet,' Duma said, with regards to property where the official transfer of ownership took place on May 31.
'In other words, we will no longer use private facilities as part of the Temporary Emergency Accommodation (TEA),' he said.
The announcement comes after more than 150 flood victims were evicted from the Bayside Hotel in Durban's city center due to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements' failure to make payments.
The victims, who were originally displaced by devastating floods earlier this year, will now be temporarily housed at the Chesterville Community Hall.
The department previously said R185 million has already been paid to various hotels for emergency accommodations.
An additional R128 million was needed to accommodate 1,200 displaced individuals.
Many of the affected victims, who previously resided in various parts of the eThekwini Municipality, have been without permanent housing since the April 2022 floods.
Duma said the Montclair Lodge will be managed by the Housing Development Agency on behalf of his department.
'A professional engineer will be appointed before the end of the month to conduct a basic assessment, which will determine the scope of work for the refurbishment,' he said.
The department has allocated R4.2 million for the assessment and a minimum of R35 million for refurbishment. A contractor will be appointed immediately after the assessment report is completed.
Duma said it was anticipated that some flood victims would be able to reside at the lodge by possibly December or January.
'Our plan is to ensure that we are ready for heavy rainfall and flooding associated with the summer season,' he said.
'This milestone of a government-owned transitional emergency accommodation will drastically reduce the rent paid to privately owned transitional emergency accommodations.'
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