Pretoria - Ga-Rankuwa residents have become frustrated with the trenches in their streets, dug as part of a project to tar the roads and install stormwater drains in Zone 4.
The trenches have been particularly frustrating for motorists, who have not been able to drive in or out of their yards because of them. The trenches were dug in various streets after last week’s rains.
Residents expressed their frustration to MMC for Roads and Transport Dikeledi Selowa and her provincial counterpart Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo, saying they appreciated the service delivery, but that it should not come with the inconvenience of being unable to access their yards.
The residents said rains had worsened the situation as the ground at entrances to yards had been eroded, and they hoped the problem would be dealt with urgently.
They said they understood the City of Tshwane was trying to build good roads for them but it was frustrating to park their cars in the streets or in other people’s yards at night, because the rain had flooded the trenches.
Joseph Pulusa, who works in SAPS supply chain management in Silverton, said he could not go to work because his car was stuck inside his yard.
Obrey Kau Sekudu begged Mamabolo and Selowa to send trucks with sand, which could be placed at his yard entrance, so he could drive out and go to work.
Sekudu said: “I have not been able to work since Thursday.”
Pub owner Louis Sekgora said: “My business has not done well because my clients cannot drive here. This is now affecting my livelihood and I can only imagine the frustration of those residents who have had this inconvenience much longer.”
Wheelchair user, Obert Modiga, 73, watched from his yard as contractors from Outdoor Sensations began
working to clear the water from the roads, to enable motorists to drive in and out of their yards.
Modiga said: “I will celebrate on Tuesday morning when I can be able to push myself to the local shopping centre to collect my pension because it is that time of the month. I am happy the MMC and MEC made the engineers promise me that I would not experience any problems when that time comes.”
Selowa inspected the work as construction vehicles filled the trenches and made the engineers assure residents that by the end of Monday they would have cleared the flooded areas and made the roads drivable.
She said: “We are building about 5km of roads and stormwater infrastructure because this area has not had it. It has a bit of a slight high water table and the ground soil is very muddy and moist. They have already laid 3.5km of stormwater infrastructure and now it is just compacting the ground back together.”
She said she visited the area to ensure all safety precautions were followed to avoid instances of children being injured in the areas where work was under way and to also ensure that the process of providing a service did not negatively affect the community.
She said the contractor had to compact the ground in three stages before tarring it, and the contractor was willing to make its construction camp site available for parking to residents who were unable to drive into their yards during construction.
Mamabolo said the residents approached him about the issue over the weekend, when a team from the provincial government was maintaining and fixing the roads.
He said they agreed that the engineering methodology and approach used were flawed because trenches had been dug in many areas and left open, while it took workers 60 days to complete work along a 200 metre stretch of road. This was in addition to needing to test the soil, which took 14 days.
He said the workers should not dig up so many areas and leave trenches open as this created an insecure environment for children and motorists.
He said the approach taken showed they did not undertake a proper risk analysis, did not take the rain into account, and did not erect sufficient signage.
Pretoria News