ALBERTON – Please ask Mr Diamond when is the gap going to be bridged on this footbridge running over Swartkoppies? Does this really take all these years to repair?
This is not the first complaint from local residents about this problem. School children are in great danger, now finding themselves having to deal with crossing four and more lanes of very busy traffic to get to school and back.
I find this lack of concern by the authorities of Alberton to be totally out of order.
Mr. Carlin, Brackendowns
Comment:
I am a PR Councillor for the ANC and as such look after all suburban wards as public representative of the ANC. I also chair the Finance committee that oversee the allocation of resources and the budget. In this role I have certain responsibilities relating to service delivery and financial oversight.
I understand Mr Carlin’s frustration with this problem of the Swartkoppies bridge as I am a resident in the adjacent suburb of Meyersdal. To fix this bridge the project must become a ward priority on the IDP. If the bridge project is on the IDP there is resource and budget allocations to fix the bridge.
Even though I am chairman of finance, as a councillor I am bound by certain protocols and cannot blatantly interfere where there is an elected ward councillor. In this case councillor Estelle Visser is the ward councillor. She has driven this project and it has been on the Ward 38 IDP since 2012. Resources and budget was allocated to this project, and there was a tender process that followed in 2014. The tender was not awarded as none of the tenderers met the requirements.
I know that Cllr Visser and Ekurhuleni is aware of the severity of this problem and it is receiving attention. I trust this gap will be bridged in the near future. I would like to assure Mr Carlin that the Swartkoppies bridge is of major concern to Ekurhuleni and receiving the attention of the ward councillor and the Metro.
Councillor Neil Diamond
