Blocked drains and stormwater drains remain a major issue for residents in Boksburg.
The Advertiser regularly receives complaints from residents who are at their wits’ end about the metro not timeously responding to clogged drain issues.
According to Ward 32 councillor Marius de Vos, the senior citizens of the metro-owned Andries Scribante Haven in Cason are some of the many residents struggling with sewage flowing out of blocked drains.
“A drain in the B block was blocked for about three weeks before the metro sent a contractor to sort out the issue.
“What boggles the mind is that blocked drains are cleared after substantially long delays, but are blocked almost immediately thereafter. This is a sign of both poor workmanship and a serious neglect of maintenance over a very long period,” said de Vos.
De Vos believes the arrangement between the human settlement department and real estate to maintain buildings and gardens is not delivering the goods.
“Often complaints are not attended to despite being escalated in many cases to senior management. Councillors are often told real estate has depleted its maintenance budget and that complaints will only be attended to in the next financial year.”
Furthermore, a resident living in a complex in Beyers Park, who wished to remain anonymous, said they had to resort to getting a private company to repair a clogged drain.
“A drain that is few houses away from us was blocked and sewage started coming out of our sewer, which is about five metres from my eight-month-old daughter’s room.
“The issue was reported to the metro on several occasions, to no avail. We even contacted our ward councillor.
Contractors responded about a week later but they didn’t fix it and they never came back.
“The blockage caused a stench we felt was a health hazard. We couldn’t live like this anymore, so the complex had to pay a private company to come and fix it,” the resident said.
There are also several stormwater drains blocked in Boksburg, like the one in Rietfontein Road that often causes floods during the rainy season.
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