DA wants Kennedy Road settlement fast tracked

THE Democratic Alliance has written to KZN Human Settlement MEC, Ravi Pillay requesting that he make the Kennedy Road informal settlement a presidential project.

According to George Mari, the move will allow the development to be fast-tracked through the allocation of ring-fenced funding via eThekwini municipality.

“It will mean an immediate in situ upgrade while also making provision for the relocation of a growing number of residents to the new Cornubia housing development,” he said.

Mari said the DA had called on the MEC to give this informal settlement priority through the Provincial Funding Allocation plan.

The DA’s requests came after yet another fire swept through the informal settlement recently, destroying many homes and leaving hundreds of families, especially women and children, displaced. Residents have been forced to take shelter in the community hall or live with neighbours in their shacks.

“The Kennedy Road informal settlement has been plagued by disaster over the past few years which have included fires and floods. The settlement has also increased drastically in size due to eThekwini municipality’s inability to control its expansion. Unofficial figures currently place the number of families living within the settlement at approximately 3 000. There is a dire need to prioritise this settlement as a Presidential Project. Many lives have been lost unnecessarily as a result of eThekwini municipality’s failure to deal with the issue of over-crowding and a lack of basic services,” said Mari.