WHILE the recent repair of the Löffelstein retaining wall on Effingham Road has been welcomed by Ward 34 councillor Andrew Akkers, repairs to reinstate roads damaged by burst pipes are not being repaired quickly enough.

Akkers said several sections of roads that are yet to be reinstated include Hedley Road, Park Station Road, Temple Road, and Effingham Road.

“In most of these cases it is due to a burst pipe or an underground water leak. In the case with the Löffelstein retaining wall on Effingham Road and Bellhaven Road, residents informed me that the eThekwini Municipality initially dug in the wrong place looking for the leak, causing the problem to exacerbate. The heavy rains in recent months have also affected repairs, if they are done, as backfill is washed away.

“While the retaining wall has now been fixed, there was a gaping hole that kept widening and that was left like that from November last year. This has been replicated on other roads within the Ward, including Rosary Road and Mimosa Road. Once a water leak is repaired, there is far too long a gap for the road and the area to be repaired and reinstated, leading to bigger problems and more expensive costs for the City,” he said.

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While the City has faced a plethora of issues regarding water leaks and burst pipes, eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba said the municipality had set a standard that all burst pipes must be responded to and repaired within 24 hours.

“This will require us to increase our internal capacity, including insourcing Ward-based plumbers. Proactive leak detection in curbing water losses is also being prioritised and we can only achieve this if we deploy technology on our infrastructure. We are also putting more emphasis on quality assurance on the work being done by our plumbers. From now on, when we send plumbers to do repair work, they must tell us what they have found by sending pre and post-work pictures. Through our call centre and other mediums of communication, we will also provide feedback to our customers and check if the work has been done to their satisfaction,” he said in March.

Despite this statement, there was no word on how long the reinstatement of damaged roads due to burst pipes would take.

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