Durban — Parents of Ridge Park College pupils in Durban are breathing a sigh of relief after two trenches on the road leading to the school and a residential complex were filled in after two months.
A road named The Avenue was excavated to repair a burst pipe but the trenches were never filled in with sand or cordoned off with warning signs, until Friday.
The school has more than 1 000 pupils using the road to and from school. On Friday, a parent who fetched a child had his front wheels stuck inside one of the holes. Security guards and motorists helped to pull the car free.
Active Citizens Coalition (ACC) Councillor Imtiaz Syed said there were several burst water pipes that led to the road surfaces being excavated.
“All repairs that have been done in wards 27 and 31 are left for weeks unattended. In some places, multiple repairs were done and after two months leaks had started again,” he said.
Syed said The Avenue had three water pipe leaks and before reinstating the road another leak popped up.
“The issue was if they resurfaced the road, what guarantee were they going to get there won’t be another leak? The water department needs to discuss a way forward on the issues facing Overport, Peter Mokaba Ridge and its intersections.
“The pipeline runs off St Thomas Reservoir. We also need to know whether this line needs to be replaced in its entirety,” Syed said.
The Harbottle Road and Ridge intersection had five burst pipes in eight weeks. Syed asked the City officials if it would be feasible to replace the entire pipeline instead of relying on patch-up jobs and the exorbitant amount of money paid to contractors.
“With regard to The Avenue, a job card was not given to the relevant department to resurface the road. We need to get to the bottom of this and ensure turnaround time and response is faster,” he said.
Ward councillor Remona Mckenzie said she accompanied a municipal inspector to The Avenue and other roads that were not resurfaced on Friday.
“I found that the roads department will not reinstate it if the water and sanitation has not informed them. There is a breakdown in communication between departments. Someone is not following the process.
“The school principal and the inspector were shocked to see that the site was not cordoned off,” she said.
Mckenzie blamed the burst pipes on ageing infrastructure. She said the departments had to work with a mindset to prioritise the communities’ needs and make sure that they worked swiftly to avoid any backlog or delays.
eThekwini Municipality was approached for comment last week but had not responded by the time of publication.
Daily News