R4.6 million bridge starting to crumble

Only two months after the City handed over a new R4.6 million bridge connecting two Khayelitsha communities, it will have to close partially as some parts have already started to crumble.

The City completed the Zenzile Street project in Kuyasa last year after it was marred with months of delays that officials claimed was due to unrest in the community and attacks on the contract workers. Former councillor Bongile Ngcani said he informed the City last week of the bridge’s collapsing state.

“We noticed last week that something was not right about the infrastructure because there was a blockage of a drain and water was not flowing through the bridge. I called the City last week, and an official who said he passed on the information. To date we have not seen any City inspector or a signage erected. One wonders how much more damage we will see during heavy winter storms and rain,” he said.

Ngcani said the community’s main concern was safety and they needed assurance that they could still walk on it. Urban Mobility mayco member Rob Quintas on Wednesday said the matter was first brought to the City’s attention on February 7 and a process of appointing a contractor to carry out the necessary repairs to the road will start.

“The City’s Urban Mobility Directorate has mobilised its district office to arrange for the area washed away to be cordoned off and for the appropriate signage to be erected. This means that the road will be partially closed until repairs can be effected, but the part that remains open will be safe for use. The public is urged to stay clear of the washed away area and the ponding sewerage in the road,” he said.

According to Quintas, the cause of parts of the roads to wash away was a combination of windblown sand and solids in the sewerage that blocked the inlet and discharge pipe causing the sewerage to overtop the kerb and run down the embankment. He also refuted claims that the the contractor produced shoddy work. “The work was completed to specification and to the required standards within the time required for completion and within budget.”

ANC caucus leader Xolani Sotashe called for heads to roll for the “mediocrity”. “The initial budget for the project was about R8 million but the city settled for this contractor. It’s fine if they felt that it was a good contractor after checking it’s background. However now we want to know where was the quality assurance from the city’s side? Councillor Lonwabo Mnqina informed me about the damage and requested my intervention hence I will visit,” he said.

GOOD Secretary General Brett Herron said: “We need one standard of infrastructure across our city. Sub-standard infrastructure that is provided to some communities is apartheid thinking. The city cannot continue to provide disadvantaged communities with infrastructure other communities will not accept.”