WATCH: Waterkant Road pipeline project resumes

Tags

---

23-10-2024
Read : 25 times
Northglen News
Source

The community has been waiting for 18 months for this project to see completion.

MOTORISTS, pedestrians and homeowners who live on Waterkant Road in Durban North will be pleased to know that the completion of the pipeline repairs and re-instatement of the road are underway.

The project has been ongoing for more than a year with work coming to a standstill for several months due to a shortage of asphalt in the city.

Ward 36 councillor Heinz de Boer said that there were two aspects to the project – the laying of 200m of new plastic water piping on Holmark Place and the re-instatement of Waterkant Road – both running concurrently with each other.

“A pipe was initially laid on Waterkant Road about a year and a half ago. A large portion of the road had to be excavated to make way for the new plastic pipe which replaced the 400mm asbestos pipe. The old pipe kept bursting, resulting in recurring water cuts in the area. To put an end to this, a new pipe had to be laid,” he said.

“The completion of the project entails the laying of 200m of plastic pipe on Holmark Place, connecting it to the existing pipe on Waterkant Road and then the resurfacing of the roads. The job card for the resurfacing was issued about three weeks ago, but there is a shortage of asphalt in the city,” added De Boer.

He said that the ‘patch job’ that had been done prior to this project taking off was not acceptable to former Ward 36 councillor Shontel de Boer, who strongly opposed the workmanship.

“The constant repairing of a very old asbestos pipe was not the best solution as this pipe feeds large areas, such as Umgeni Park and surrounds. There is also a major shopping centre on this road and several businesses, houses and complexes which were all affected by the water interruptions. The pipe replacement is a critical structural asset to the area,” he said.

The running community has mixed feelings about work finally resuming on Waterkant Road. The chairperson for Riverside Harriers Running Club, Janine Wilmers, said the club has made other plans in the meantime to conduct their timed trials.

“We are happy to hear that the completion of the project is underway, however, we are not going to hold our breaths. We have adopted a new route leaving from the club, which is a figure of eight. A section of the Waterkant route has no pavement which means runners have to run onto the road, which is dangerous as it is a busy road.

“The new route that the club has adopted is suitable, especially for our novice runners, as there is pavement all the way, and they don’t have to cross the road much. It’s highly doubtful that we will go back to using the old route,” said Wilmers.

The eThekwini Municipality did not comment at the time of going to print.