Municipality owes us an explanation

“What a waste of taxpayers and ratepayers money!”, “Whose idea was this in the first place?”, “What are they doing now?”. These are just but some of the comments by irate and angry ratepayers of KwaDukuza in response to the yet unexplained mess that is taking place in town ( re: Chief Albert Luthuli Street).
KDM seeks to portray itself as a very progressive municipality, but the recent “undoing” of the aforementioned street renders this municipality in a very poor light indeed. I, like many other residents of this beautiful town are totally confused by what has, and is currently taking place.
Let’s go back to the beginning. A few years ago the idea to modernise our inner-town streets was put forward by the municipality. The one thing that struck me at that time was the intention to make them “one-way streets” in a very confined inner circle. I, like many others, thought that this was not a good idea. Businessmen cried foul and they warned the authorities that this idea was not a good one because it could potentially put them out of business.
They also warned that parking would be chaotic. Large trucks would have difficulty turning if the streets were made narrower. They called for proper consultations and wanted detailed plans from the municipality.
The idea at the time seemed good, but I did not think that the streets of Stanger were big enough for such a fundamental change. Yes, if they were mega wide then maybe cosmetic changes to “beautify” them could be justified. Councillors also hailed the new streets as the starting point to get our town in readiness for it to become a city by 2030. Who wouldn’t like a city status for Stanger? At what cost though?
When construction started there was utter chaos. Motorists were frustrated by delays and the poor state of the road. This project was also dogged by contractor and weather problems. Even the cost of the trees were a cause for concern. How incredibly short-sighted! What are we witnessing now? A total undoing of a project.
There are so many unanswered questions. I would like to pose a few. If the idea to beautify our streets was so good at that time, why is it necessary to undo it now? This shows total lack of foresight. How can this municipality justify the expenditure incurred?
By them undoing it now indicates that they have total disregard for our taxes and rates. Was this expenditure budgeted for? In these difficult economic times how can the municipality be allowed to get away with this without giving the residents a full explanation of the current events? Now is the time to take out full page advertisements to explain! Were any consultations held with the ratepayers? Who approved these plans? Were these plans fully interrogated by the KDM to see if indeed they could work? Were they viable and feasible? Did any councillor/s disagree? Why the redoing of this project? It is now more chaotic than before.
Many residents battle to pay their rates and taxes yet if we see our money crushed in this way makes our hearts bleed. The municipality owes the residents a clear explanation on the change of events.

JAYANTH R SAHADAVE
Stanger