Durban — The turnaround strategy for eThekwini Municipality’s pools section needs millions of rand to go ahead, and this was laid bare at a full council sitting last week after a visit of the city’s leadership to central coastal pools.
DA councillor Remona Mckenzie said municipal swimming pools were non-operational, and that prioritising repairs was imperative. Mckenzie said residents needed decent swimming facilities to train for championships.
Among questions Mckenzie put to the city were: how many city pools were operational, were there shortages of chemicals for the pools, what were the challenges with the pools, and what action was being taken to make the pools fit for purpose?
Swimming pool unit acting head in the municipality’s parks, recreation and culture section Nontando Mzobe said 30 pools were operational. Another 16 pools were closed for various reasons, including the Balkumar Singh Springfield pool in Asherville, which was flood-damaged.
Mzobe said five coastal pools – Kings Park, children’s amusement centre, Rachel Finlayson, South Beach, and Laguna Beach – were a high priority as they were on the beachfront, the city's main tourist attraction.
An additional budget had been allocated for the 2022/23 financial year to repair and upgrade swimming pools.
“Plans are in place to replace the roof, install lighting and pool heating (indoor and outdoor), repair diving boards, and carry out spalling repairs at the Kings Park pool.”
The city’s architecture department would appoint a professional team to carry out assessments for repairs to the children’s amusement centre pools.
These interventions would include installing a new plant room and filtration system, constructing a new barrier (seating area/stands) to block sand from getting into the pools, removing the concrete slides, installing fountains and upgrading the pools’ drainage system.
The Rachel Finlayson pool, which has been closed since 2015 after controversial construction work, would need major repairs. This included building a new plant room, upgrading the filtration system, and renovating the public ablutions and changing rooms.
The city was considering replacing the pool’s main drain valve and reline sump, repair the rim-flow drainage channel, reconstruct the scum channel, and mend the drainage channels. The plan was also to repair the pool’s stainless steel ladders and re-examine its launder and suction lines.
The Firwood Road pool had remained closed for more than a year due to a lack of funding. The pool had experienced an underground water leak. The city had allocated R1m for 2021/22 for professional fees, while an additional R35m was required for coming years. The city needed R3.6mto repair the Newlands pool, R15m for Umlazi’s BB pool, R10m for Shallcross, and R200 000 for the Glebelands pool.
Mzobe said the city was also facing challenges in purchasing chlorine. His report stated that a 36-month contract for this purpose was declared a non-award twice, and therefore a request/authority to continue with the contract had been sent to National Treasury. The process of initiating the contract had commenced.
Mzobe said that currently a dry chemical that was a substitute for chlorine was being procured.
Daily News