The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) is working with Transnet and stakeholders, including the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, eThekwini municipality and Eskom, to stabilise operations at the Port of Durban.<\/p>\n
It comes amid deadly floods in the province which have claimed more than 300 lives and hobbled the nation\u2019s busiest port.<\/p>\n
Eskom chief executive, Andre de Ruyter, said the power utility will not be implementing stage two load shedding at the flood-hit eThekweni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n
Despite this promise, some areas in the KZN region are without power due to damaged Eskom infrastructure, which the power utility is attending to.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy and large, our grid is still intact. We have some minor interruptions in isolated areas where there are some short-term interruptions. We have offered some assistance to municipalities in KZN to help with spares and maintenance crews.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have made an arrangement with eThekwini Municipality and we are not implementing load shedding at this point in time. We are ready and prepared to offer any assistance that we can to help KZN through this very challenging period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Load shedding<\/strong><\/p>\n De Ruyter said the power utility is working \u201cas hard as [it] can\u201d to return units to service and to attend to broken down generation units, which have led to the implementation of stage two load shedding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working as hard as we can to restore electricity and end load shedding as soon as possible. We apologise for this interruption to our normal services and I can give the assurance that the Eskom teams are working all hours of the day and night to restore supply and end load shedding as soon as we can,\u201d de Ruyter said.<\/p>\n He said the power utility is down on capacity of about 13,663MW, which will result in the power utility falling short \u2013 by some 3,518MW \u2013 of consumer demand.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to take a decision to extend load shedding… at least until Friday, depending on how the situation changes with units either returning to service from unplanned trips or potential further breakdowns and of course, that risk remains,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The DPE said that Eskom is assisting the municipality to repair damaged infrastructure, and electricity was restored overnight to the Island View precinct. Safety checks are being conducted Transnet<\/strong><\/p>\n Transnet has gradually resumed operations at the Port of Durban as at 06h00 on Thursday (14 April), with ongoing risk assessments being undertaken to ensure the safety of employees and infrastructure.<\/p>\n Priority interventions, in collaboration with the eThekwini Municipality and Transport Authority, include repairing Bayhead Road – which is the main access road to the container terminals at the port and Island View – and investigating alternative access roads into the port while Bayhead Road is being repaired, the ministry of Public Enterprises said.<\/p>\n “There was a wash away of a section of Bayhead Road at the outfall of the Umhlathuzana canal into the harbour. Cargo which will be prioritised for evacuation from the port today includes food, medical supplies, and petroleum products.”<\/p>\n President @CyrilRamaphosa<\/a> visits flood-stricken parts of KwaZulu-Natal to offer support to affected communities and assess the response of government and civil society to this critical situation. #KZNFloods<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ZEssD4Pjaw<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Presidency | South Africa \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 (@PresidencyZA) April 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nbefore operations by customers can resume, as some customers\u2019 facilities were damaged by the flooding.<\/p>\n\n