R1.8-m used for Rhodes Park swimming pool renovations
The operation of the pool was stopped last year for renovations and to mend the cracks in its walls.
It is yet to be seen if the Rhodes Park swimming pool will be open to the public this spring.
This follows the conflicting opinions between the ward councillor and the City of Johannesburg (CoJ).
The operation of the pool was stopped last year for renovations and to mend the cracks in its walls.
The CoJ’s stakeholder liaison officer in the office of the MMC for Community Safety, Mr Eddie Mokoena, said the city used R1.8-million for swimming pool renovations.
“The total refurbishment of ablution facilities, electrical upgrades, tiling, the complete painting of the building (interior and exterior), filtration pipe replacements, repairs to the cracked pool shell, the complete re-tiling of pool shell, roof sealing and painting, repairs to the filtration pump and strainer box and paving around pool were done,” he said.
He added that repairs have already been done.
“The quantity surveyor is in the process of signing off all the work to enable council to pay the retention amount,” he said.
The ward councillor, Clr Carlos da Rocha, said the swimming pool renovations were not done properly.
“Late last year, when they said the work was done, I told them about the cracks in the tiles and on the walls of the pool. They said I should not be worried as they had used a special material to fix it. I asked them to fill the pool with water so that we could see. They promised to do this but never did. Now we will have to wait the whole year to confirm the shoddy work done here. By that time, the contractor will be long gone. The walls of the pool will not be able to retain water because of the cracks and millions of Rands will be wasted,” said Clr Da Rocha.
He added that the pool was supposed to be filled before the contractor left the site.
According to Clr Da Rocha, the Rhodes Park swimming pool is ideally located to be used by the wider community.
“This is a strategic pool. It can be used by children from Betrams, Kensington, Bezuidenhout Valley and the surrounding areas. It is also accessible to surrounding schools to teach pupils to swim,” he said.
Mr Mokoena said the entrance fee will be R5 for children and R9 for adults to use the swimming pool for the entire day.
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