Clr questions workmanship at swimming pool
Despite belief that the workmanship of repairs conducted at the Rhodes Park swimming pool was inferior, the contractor has stated that everything is above board.
The EXPRESS recently received complaints from Clr Carlos da Rocha, of ward 66, about the quality of work conducted during the upgrade of the facility.
“The pool was closed years ago because of structural damage to the ‘shell’. When the repair work started, I was told that the shell would be fixed. I was informed that R900 000 was set aside to upgrade the facility. However, only R500 000 was used and the majority of it went to the buildings and not the pool. The work conducted on the buildings is sub-standard and I cannot see how further problems will not occur,” said Clr Da Rocha.
The EXPRESS previously reported that the pool was closed several years ago due to structural damage to the base. According to council, the damage was a result of soil movement.
When the EXPRESS visited the facility last week, Clr Da Rocha pointed out a crack that has already formed in the pool. He also pointed out a pipe in a toilet that has not been secured, urinals that are too high especially for children and some tiles that are not level with the rest.
“Children could cut their fingers while running around separating screens close to the entrance of the facility and trip over tiles that are not level. Plaster on some of the walls is already braking off. The old paint was not scraped off. Instead, it was plastered over. The reason for wanting to fix the shell of the pool was to prevent cracks from forming. If it is already happening, how will they prevent this from becoming worse?” said Clr Da Rocha.
Ms Lesedi Mohuba, from Moreteng Investments, the company contracted to do the job, was on-site.
“There is no crisis. After any work conducted, we do a snag list. This means that we look for the mistakes and fix them. Every last cent of the R900 000 was spent on the repairs at the facility. In fact, more was spent and we did some work, like painting some tiles around the pool, for free to make the area look uniform.
“The work is complete from our side. Everything was done according to the specifications. We repaired cracks in the pool. We are going to fix the cracks that Clr Da Rocha pointed out. We are going to put in an expansion joint to address the problem. We also need to fix the rough casting and paint on a wall on the outside of the facility. There are some tiles we found that need replacing. We will also be completing the collar around parts of the pool,” she told the EXPRESS.
Ms Mohuba said the structural crack in the base of the pool was not part of their scope.
“To fix the root cause of the problem we would have to excavate from the outside of the pool and redo everything. This was not part of the contract. We had technical meetings weekly and plans for repairs were discussed. From our side, we did everything that was expected and the officials were pleased with our work. The site handover has already taken place,” said Ms Mohuba.
The EXPRESS forwarded an enquiry to the city on Monday last week. At the time of going to print, no comment had been received.
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