A project to replace pipes in Grahamstown is due for completion by the end of June when roads that have been dug up will be fully restored, according to the municipality.
A project to replace pipes in Grahamstown is due for completion by the end of June when roads that have been dug up will be fully restored, according to the municipality.
Grahamstown residents have expressed concern at ongoing disruption to traffic, as well as damaged and uneven roads as Makana’s pipe replacement project drags on.
Resident and local businessperson Pieter Burger wrote to Grocott’s Mail, saying: “Last year in November the private contractor who put new water pipes down York Street just upped and left us with a 4×4 trail.”
Somerset Street residents Mike Bandey and Jeanie Main wrote to Grocott’s Mail last week, saying: “It is as though we are back in the army, where during basic training we were required to dig a hole and as soon as we were finished we were instructed to fill it up again. Such is Somerset Street outside the entrance to our home, and the contractor has repeated this process since November last year.”
Makana’s communication officer Yoliswa Ramokolo said the municipality had embarked on an asbestos pipe replacement project in the Grahamstown CBD (Somerset, African and York Streets) which includes the excavation of trenches that in some cases necessitate the digging of tarred surface roads and in the process damaging large parts of the roads.
In a media statement Ramokolo said the municipality had noted residents' concerns about tarred roads throughout the CBD that have large gravel patches in them.
“According to the contract agreement between the municipality and the contractor, the contractor is responsible for the total restoration of the damaged roads that have been destroyed as part of the project they are working on,” Ramokolo said.
“As soon as the contractor finishes the replacements in all the identified streets and roads, they will embark on the programme of repairing all the streets and roads to their original state or even better.”
Ramokolo said it was hoped the project would be completed by the end of June.
Meanwhile the GRA has invited representatives from business, education, culture and transport sectors, as well as civil society organisations to a forum on provincial roads through Grahamstown and how best to get action on maintaining them.
“It has been brought to our attention that a number of roads through town are actually the property of the provincial government and therefore ought to be maintained by the province. These roads include the major thoroughfares through town like Market, Beaufort, Somerset and Bathurst Streets,” the GRA wrote.
The meeting will be at the Assumption Development Centre in Joza, cnr Joza and Ncame Streets at 5:30pm on Thursday 28 April.
For more information email info@grahamstownresidentsassociation.co.za or call 078 882 3918.
