Letter: Dune rehab was a complete wasted effort

In a letter to the Courier in September 2016, I expressed my concern and disbelief at what the authorities were trying to do to “rehabilitate” the dune on the M4 opposite Boys Town in order to stop it from constantly spilling into the road.

I could see from the start that this was going to be a disaster.

It took massive machinery weeks to push the sand away (just to get it blown back again) in order to clear a small area in the total dune to be converted into “natural looking” garden.

It took weeks for the soil to be properly composted, planted and covered with mesh and bark, but the timing was also very suspect, at the height of the drought.

While we could not water or gardens, this contractor had a thick hosepipe with sprinklers drowning this piece of land for a couple of months on end.

I was happy to see that the plants eventually did start to grow, but my happiness was unfortunately short lived because as the plants grew, so did the groundswell behind them.

As can be seen from photos taken in September 2016 and September 2017, the plants on the dune were slowly but surely engulfed by Mother Nature and all the time, money and effort spent were in vain.

The exercise was a total waste and the only positive that I can see is that it proved that we should clear the whole stretch of all its shrubbery and vegetation because the part that was cleared is actually managing itself and there is no sand spilling over the wall, as opposed to the rest of the dune that is getting blown against the vegetation and slowly into the roadway itself.

It would be interesting to know what the initial thoughts were behind this project and what the plans from here are going to be.

FRANCOIS BOSSERT

Ballito