Gauteng government, City of Tshwane committed to working together to repair Hercules sinkhole

Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo and Tshwane MMC for Roads and Transport Dikeledi Selowa with officials at the sinkhole on the corner of Taljaard and Hendriks Street in Hercules. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency (ANA)

Gauteng Transport MEC Jacob Mamabolo and Tshwane MMC for Roads and Transport Dikeledi Selowa with officials at the sinkhole on the corner of Taljaard and Hendriks Street in Hercules. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Jun 30, 2021

Share

Pretoria - The Gauteng government and City of Tshwane yesterday committed to working together to repair a sinkhole in Hercules.

MEC for public transport and roads infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo and MMC for Roads and Transport Dikeledi Selowa visited a site at the intersection of Taljaard and Hendrik streets.

They were told that technicians from the City’s Department of Water and Sanitation had been repairing pipes when they discovered that there was water coming from an undiscovered source for two months.

Even after inspecting and closing all the sewer pipes, the water kept flowing, making it impossible to progress with the job.

It furthermore widened the hole until a section of the road was closed for the safety of pedestrians and vehicles in the industrial area.

Mamabolo said his department would assist the City to ensure that it completed the work to have the roads opened and traffic flowing safely again.

He emphasised the need to maximise the safety of motorists and pedestrians, especially children, by sealing off the area so that no lives were lost while the project is under way.

“This is a municipal road, but we will work with the City to see how we can help them fix this problem, because one road not working affects the movement of people and goods.

“We will support the plans of the City and I think right now what worries me is the issue of risks to motorists, because if you can see there are cracks on the road, so sealing the road is very important to protect the space and save human lives,” he said.

Selowa said Mamabolo’s department was going to give the City a 10-ton crane that would be used to bring concrete barriers to seal off the roads.

“The provincial government is also going to talk to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to do a water analysis to see where the groundwater is coming from, because initially we thought it was a leak from a sewer pipe, but after all the pipes were sealed the water just continued to come up.

“Once the CSIR has assisted us and we know where the water comes from, we can then go to the department to see if we can do a whole construction of the road network again.

“We realised that the support structure within the road infrastructure was not strong enough. Every time they excavated the walls fell in” she said.

Selowa said a full assessment was due to be done to determine the size and the cost to fix the sinkhole, and how long it may take.

“We can actually fix it in a short period of time, but we are not going to do that because it could mean people will be without water for three weeks. We cannot have that,” she added.

Pretoria News

Related Topics: