Municipal backlogs lead to unkempt parks on the Bluff
Added to contract delays, the councillor said that parks department officials assigned to ward 66 are severely under-resourced and understaffed.
DELAYS in completing contracts for basic municipal services are believed to be the cause of the city’s poor performance in service delivery. This is according to ward 66 councillor, JP Prinsloo, who released a statement addressing the messages his office is inundated with.
Jamey Deudney is a concerned resident who is worried about the state of the parks on the Bluff. “I took a walk around and took photos. The grass was cut last week and I assure you this will remain as is. Until an old lady from the block of flats next to where I live complains directly to the parks department again,” he said.
However, Prinsloo said that this was not the case and that the frequency and quality of the maintenance conducted on verges, staircases, parks and open spaces over the past few months have been on a steady decline.
“The sharp increase of fruitless and wasteful expenditure and multiple delays in finalising vital municipal contracts are the root causes of the city’s poor performance. Currently, there is no weed spraying contract in place to manage the jungle of weeds growing into our public roads. The parks department has now reverted to utilising in-house staff to conduct this work. But this work can only be done over weekends as the in-house staff is still required to fulfill their normal duties during the working week,” he said.
He added that the current verge cutting contract expired on 31 March 2019 and the advertising of the new contract was submitted to the city’s Bid Specification Committee (BSC) and deferred on two occasions last year for amendments.
“An amended BSC report is expected to be tabled towards the end of January this year when the BSC reconvenes. The supply chain management (SCM) prepared an extension of the existing contract from April 2019 to end October 2019 in anticipation of the delays with the current report and in order to ensure regularised ongoing services,” Prinsloo said.
Added to contract delays, he said that parks department officials assigned to ward 66 are severely under-resourced and understaffed. “With limited access to important maintenance equipment and a handful of staff, less than 10, they are struggling to cope with the magnitude and size of this ward. Currently, they have to manage six suburbs stretching from the Bluff Headlands all the way past the Engine refinery.”
In partnership with the war room committee, a meeting with officials from the parks department, special services, and natural resources has been called for to urgently tackle these challenges.
“Residents of the Bluff community can no longer bear the brunt of poor management within this city,” he said.
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