WARD 65 councillor Samantha Windvogel has expressed her unhappiness over the condition of several roads in the area following burst pipes.

While repairs to stop the leaks have been carried out on different roads in the area, there are large excavation holes and rubble left piled on the side of the road.

Windvogel highlighted Cannon Road and Arthur Place (at the intersection of Arundel Road) in particular with large holes left in the road, leading to concerns about the safety and integrity of the road surface around the holes.

Queensburgh News visited Arthur Place with Windvogel where a burst, which took place earlier this year, has not been backfilled or reinstated.

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“It has been more than five months and the situation is unacceptable. While this is happening throughout eThekwini it’s disheartening to see that this standard has not been maintained, with massive excavations and spoil taking months to be re-tarred and removed.

“What is happening in Arthur Place is some people are actually dumping in the hole. When a burst occurs the relevant department is dispatched to dig up and repair the leak.

“Then there is backfill placed in the excavation to compact the earth around the pipe. The City then use crusher before roads department will do their measurements and reinstate the road. This has not happened in this case and there is the additional problem of spoil being left all over the pavement. With the rainy season approaching I’m worried that these excavation holes could widen. There is also concern for pedestrian safety as they have to walk on the road to go around the hole,” she said.

Windvogel added she had escalated the matter to senior officials within the municipality.

Donavan Naicker, a resident of Arthur Place, said residents considered backfilling and retarring themselves.

“The burst occurred earlier this year and it took a day to fix, however, the issue was then the road was not reinstated. Personally I’m worried this could affect the integrity of the road surface and could lead to a sinkhole forming. The hole has also sadly become a place for people to dump rubbish. I don’t see the road being reinstated any time soon based on how long it’s been left. We as residents wanted to sort it out ourself but we were worried about being held liable if there was any damage to municipal property,” Naicker said.

At the time of publishing the eThekwini Municipality did not respond to an enquiry on the matter.

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