‘Leave roads until later, fix our homes first’

160627. Cape Town. A man walks with a shopping trolley filled with recyclable materials along Adriannse road in Bishop Lavis where Industrial surfacing machines was on standby to start with a R124 Million rand upgrade on Monday morning. Mayor De Lille launched a R124 million roads upgrade project in Bishop Lavis on Monday. A quality road network allows people to access opportunities while also ensuring efficient economic activity. The City of Cape Town has embarked on various road upgrade projects across the metro, with one of the latest projects commencing in Bishop Lavis where the City is investing R124 million for the upgrading of 80 roads in this community. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

160627. Cape Town. A man walks with a shopping trolley filled with recyclable materials along Adriannse road in Bishop Lavis where Industrial surfacing machines was on standby to start with a R124 Million rand upgrade on Monday morning. Mayor De Lille launched a R124 million roads upgrade project in Bishop Lavis on Monday. A quality road network allows people to access opportunities while also ensuring efficient economic activity. The City of Cape Town has embarked on various road upgrade projects across the metro, with one of the latest projects commencing in Bishop Lavis where the City is investing R124 million for the upgrading of 80 roads in this community. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

Published Jun 28, 2016

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Cape Town - Residents of Clarkes Estate in Bishop Lavis appeared less than impressed with the City of Cape Town’s announcement of road upgrades worth R124 million in their area.

They said they rather wanted the money to be spent on maintenance to the council flats in which they have lived for decades.

Seventy-six roads spanning 26km will be rehabilitated over the next 26 months, including the building of pavements, line repainting and the replacement of guard rails.

Mayor Patricia de Lille arrived on site in Adriaanse Road on Monday where roadworks were under way, saying: “Bishop Lavis it took a while, but you know what they say, you keep the best for last.”

Quality roads were an integral part of redressing apartheid spatial planning so that residents could move about easily and safely, she said.

But residents were not thrilled by the idea. Instead, they wanted to know why their homes were not being upgraded.

“They are upgrading the roads, but the flats are miff. Our children are always coughing and getting sick,”said 64-year-old Sylvia Sauls, who has been living in a council flat for 43 years.

“They must leave the roads until later and fix the flats first.”

Said Charles Davids: “This is very unfair. We are going to be unhappy with the roads being fixed but not the flats.”

Davids said the staircases were unsafe particularly for children, and water was pouring through the roofs on to the power boxes.

He said residents of the Clarkes Estate flats had been waiting for upgrades since Dan Plato was the mayor and spearheading the Community Residential Unit upgrade project.

There are at least 24 blocks of flats in the immediate area of the current roadworks.

Rosemary Rau, chairwoman of subcouncil 5 in which the ward falls, said she understood that the residents often felt like a “forgotten community”, but that the city could not use rates to fix the flats.

The money had to come from Treasury.

During the road rehabilitation project, R2.7m will be spent on local labour through the Expanded Public Works Programme.

But disgruntled local women who had been working on the roads for the past two months, claimed they had not been paid.

They said they wanted their children to be given jobs during their school holidays.

“Our children are starting to become gangsters. They are robbing people. We hope this project can give children something to do,” said resident, Samantha Petersen.

Ward 24 councillor Asa Abrahams said the city was doing its best to give people work. Following the August 3 election, the ward will become part of Ward 28 which includes Elsies River.

Residents said they were not happy with the DA’s candidate for the area, Chris Jordaan. They wanted Abrahams to remain.

Despite most of them being DA members, the residents said they were reconsidering voting for the party again.

An urban upgrade plan for Bishop Lavis to improve public facilities and open space is currently in the drafting phases.

The city has spent R55.4m upgrading major roads in Woodstock, Paarden Eiland and Wynberg. Last year, R170m was spent on road upgrades in Grassy Park, Athlone and Gugulethu.

As part of the Mayoral Redress project, R20m was also spent on road upgrades in Macassar, Bellville South, Phola Park, Scottsdene, Wallacedene, Elsies River, Delft, Belhar and Valhalla Park.

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Cape Argus

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