Glenvista residents fuming about delays with Rand Water project
The goal of the project is to lay a new pipeline to augment the existing pipeline supply to the Meyer’s Hill Reservoir but after various delays, the project is still not completed.
Residents from Glenvista, in the South of Johannesburg, have been left fuming after a pipeline project that was scheduled to be completed in 2018 has still not been completed.
The goal of the project is to lay a new pipeline to augment the existing pipeline supply to the Meyer’s Hill Reservoir.
Recently the contractors of the project ran into problems when rock was discovered in the way and further construction was forced to stop while Rand Water and the contractors apply for a permit to use explosives to get the rock out of the way.
This, along with the closure of Donington Drive in Glenvista, has left residents fuming.
A resident, who contacted the Comaro CHRONICLE and spoke on the condition of remaining anonymous, said:
“I’ve lost count of how many contractors have been involved, now the latest contractor has closed off Donington Drive for a crossing but has hit rock and no work has been done for two months. This is impacting the community and traffic.”
The resident further said: “It is a major environmental issue as they have diverted the river. Every time it rains all the soil erosion runs into the river.”
On May 26 community members from Glenvista attended a community meeting to talk about the way forward with the project.
The meeting was attended by the councillor of Ward 23, Clr Tyrell Meyers, as well as the new contractor of the project and members from Rand Water.
Residents stated from the beginning of the meeting that Rand Water is hiding important information from them and demanded the contractors of this project must be fired as they are not doing any work on the project and this is at the cost to the taxpayer.
Members from Rand Water denied all the allegations that were levelled against the project.
The contractor on the project gave residents his assurance that the project will be finished by the end of July.
When the Comaro CHRONICLE visited the construction site on June 8 to see if any progress has been made, the site looked abandoned with big trenches still open in some places.
The Comaro CHRONICLE approached Rand Water to find out more about what is causing the delays in this project as well as what the reason is for the high number of contractors employed and fired from the project.
Judith Khoza, communications manager for Rand Water, said: “The project was firstly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and, as a result, the works had to be suspended following the declaration of National State of Disaster by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) for a period.
The resumption of works had to now comply with new Covid-19 regulations and procedures which limit the number of employees on certain activities. Adverse rainy weather and site conditions have further exacerbated production rate on-site activities.”
Khoza further said: “The C25 pipeline project has employed 15 sub-contractors to date. The reason for this is the contract has elements of Enterprise Development (ED) and Socio-Economic Development (SED) programmes.
These elements promote the employment of local Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) to perform certain works on the project. The main contractor and their Exempted Micro Enterprise (EME) partner who have been awarded the contract are the responsible parties for employing the various sub-contractors and managing them on site.”
