AFTER months of construction the Waterfall Clinic in Link Road is still littered with health and safety risks.
According to Ward 9 councillor, Tex Collins, the renovation of the Waterfall Clinic started in mid 2012, however by October 2013 the construction was left to stagnate for three months as the original contractor hired by the municipality was under-performing.
The Highway Mail accompanied the councillor to the site and discovered several problems.
These included a plastic bag tied to the end of a drainage pipe which was meant to divert waste water away from one of the clinic’s entrances; steps leading onto the front platform were loose and did not have any hand rails; there were no paths for patients to walk through and they were forced to walk through mud and uneven terrain; there was no lighting in the patients waiting area and lastly the seating at the front entrance was falling apart.
Collins also reported that the newly completed sewerage system looked like rocket silos and the finishing looked flimsy and rushed.
“The construction was a simple operation, no more complicated than building a large house. It should have taken no more than six months to complete but has dragged on for more than a year. The project has also cost the municipality R200 000 more than the original budget,” said Collins.
Varthraj Latchiah, area manager for City Health in Waterfall said the site looked 100 per cent better than what it used to be and added that the site was a work in progress. He also admitted that they “still needed to tie up a few loose ends.”
Nick Vinton, from the architectural department, said he would deal with the issues raised by Collins.
“This will either be via the contract for remedial works or incomplete work arising from the cancelled contract (and costs recovered accordingly), or through other direct contract, for example with landscaping, for which no provision was made in the original contract,” Vinton.
