R12-million boost for coastal care

PHOTO: Kouga waste en environment manager, Gcobisa Dadamasi (centre), and Working for the Coast workers Anathi Yapi and Lizel Perils put the new weed-eaters to the test.  

R12-million boost for coastal care

A multimillion-rand initiative to clean up and repair beach facilities between the Van Stadens River and Tsitsikamma has started in earnest.

The R12-million project is part of the Working for the Coast programme and is being run in partnership by the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Kouga and Koukamma municipalities.

Kouga Executive Mayor Booi Koerat said the department had appointed a company from KwaZulu-Natal, Blue Print, to implement the project but that the required labour would come from local communities.

“Forty-four men and women from Kouga have already been taken on board and have started with basic clean-ups at our beaches,” he said. “They will be employed for the full implementation time of two years. 

“We are very pleased with the job creation that has come about as a result of this project, as those who have been employed had no income before.”      

Koerat said the department and municipality were finalising the details of the work to be done.

He said the initial business plan had been based on a “wish list” submitted by the municipalities some three years ago.

“Our priority needs have, however, changed in the interim, especially after the recent floods. The team will be visiting the various sites this month (September) to review and update the plan,” he said.

He explained that the project scope included beach clean-ups; alien clearing and dune rehabilitation; repairing and constructing public facilities such as ablution blocks and picnic sites; the maintenance of pathways, boardwalks and hiking trails; and the removal of illegal structures.

He said the project would focus on Jeffreys Bay, St Francis Bay, Oyster Bay, Huisklip and Eersterivier.