Relief is in sight for frustrated Umdloti residents as the village’s massive post-April 2022 flood stormwater system upgrade is nearing completion.

Originally scheduled for completion between mid-April and early May, the project that includes resurfacing the damaged road and traffic circle is now expected to be wrapped up by the end of July.

eThekwini Metro spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the severe storm that struck the greater Durban area on January 13 caused damage to construction work, causing delays. She said the damage increased the scope of work and affected the schedule.

“The partially completed sandbag retaining wall was damaged and had to be removed and reconstructed, resulting in double handling. Debris and sediment also damaged the temporary water diversions,” said Sisilana.

A major bone of contention throughout the construction period has been the frequency with which water, electricity or internet fibre cables have been damaged by contractors, almost on a weekly basis.

Last week, Bruce Stephenson was one of many Umdloti residents to air his frustrations.

“It is ridiculous, and the fact that they continually damage the water supply pipes is entirely unacceptable. To me it is straight carelessness, nothing else. There seems to be no senior person in charge of this on site,” he said.

Sisilana said the location of water, electricity and internet lines were not clearly mapped out as the damage caused during the April and May 2022 floods forced service providers to temporarily move the lines. These then had to be repositioned once more to allow for the construction of the stormwater culvert.

“Once the stormwater infrastructure is completed, these services will be relocated to their final positions by the respective service providers,” she said.

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