Municipality starts sorting out Onderberg town issues
Over the past month and a half, the Nkomazi Local Municipality has started to deliver on their promise to deal with problems in the four towns north of the N4.
KOMATIPOORT – Organised businesses representing Komatipoort, Marloth Park, Hectorspruit and Malalane were pleasantly surprised when the municipality recently delivered on their promises to start addressing the towns’ issues.
On December 13, a day after a site visit by the mayor, the town’s inadequate back-up pump was removed and replaced with a more effective one.
Shortly thereafter, municipal employees started filling up the potholes in Rissik Street with tar and over the past week, the potholes in Wildebeest Street have been prepared for filling.
According to Jan Engelbrecht of the Nkomazi East Combined Commerce and Tourism Association (NECCTA), a memorandum of understanding to upgrade the town hall for private and other use has been prepared.
The aforementioned were among the problems that representatives of the Malalane Chamber of Commerce, Hectorspruit’s concerned citizens, the Marloth Park Property Owners’ Association (MPPOA), Marloth Park Ratepayers Association (MPRA) and NECCTA brought to the executive management of the municipality’s attention during meetings in October.
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The aim is to hold these meetings quarterly to discover the needs and new challenges of the towns and measure to which extent the municipality has addressed problems previously noted.
Critical needs of all four towns included by-law enforcement, street lights and marking, as well as road maintenance and marking.
Representatives mentioned that many of the smaller problems relate to officials working on the ground not receiving the requested materials and hope that this will be addressed.
The mayor promised to visit each town to inspect its specific needs, which he did in December, and ensure they are addressed.
Other issues tabled for action by the municipality in Komatipoort include:
• Potholes
• Lack of suitable trading space for hawkers and congestion caused by their trading
• Signage and law enforcement for the low-water bridge and illegal activities taking place there
• Numbering and tarring of the road over the low-water bridge
• Refuse transfer site and signage warning against illegal dumping
• Usage of municipal hall for gymnastics.
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Organised business hopes that the municipality will continue this good work and that they will not have to wait years for positive outcomes like before.
If residents are aware of other urgent matters, they should contact representatives of the local business chambers to have them added to the list.
