Concerns about Merwe Road

Robyn Fritz is concerned that motorists navigating the dilapidated Merwe Road in Elands Small Holdings could suffer serious damage if the Rand West City Municipality does not intervene.

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Fritz said she has lived on the street for 14 years now, and since then, no effort has been made to fix the damaged road. Even though the road was not in an impractical condition when she moved into her home, she added that since then, it has dramatically worsened.

“The residents using this road have to drive on the sidewalk because they cannot drive on the road itself. We have to drive onto the property of other residents because we need to dodge potholes. The road looks worse than ever before,” she said.

It is disgusting. I know that the municipality has its challenges and this is not a very busy road, but why can’t they just scrape the tar and make it a dirt road?

“We currently have three cars on our premises, of which we already needed to pay for damages due to this road.

“It is not fair because we have to pay rates and taxes. I run a business and it is so embarrassing to deliver the cakes because when I drive on this road, the cakes fall apart before they reach the client. Where are we going to drive?” Fritz expressed.

She added she has been sending her complaints to the ward councillor, Alwyn van Tonder. However, Van Tonder said that he would pass the complaints on to the manager at the Roads Department.

“The Roads Department is in charge of maintaining the roads and, unfortunately, I cannot repair the roads but I can only report it to the department. The rain we had made the situation worse as the roads deteriorated at a faster rate.

The road has been in a bad state for many years, during which potholes were repaired on occasion but not recently,” Van Tonder said.

The municipality has been approached for comment, however, none was received as of yet. A thorough update will follow once a comment is given.