Locals express construction site concerns

Concerns were raised by the community of Eastleigh about the progression of a stormwater project located near the corner of Aitken Road and Da Gama Avenue.

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This comes after the project along Aitken Road seemingly came to a halt several weeks ago after the contractor was allegedly not paid by the municipality.

In light of this, Eastleigh Ridge Residents Associations chairperson Sheryl Damerell and Ward 19 Ald Bill Rundle met with the NEWS at the site to discuss the matter and their concerns.

The infrastructure in question, an attenuation chamber, is located along the pavement of Aitken Road near the T-junction with Da Gama Avenue.

It collapsed in February 2020.

Rundle previously told the NEWS the collapse was caused by large volumes of stormwater being diverted from Greenstone into Edenvale.

The attenuation chamber, which was installed to slow the water from the Greenstone down, could not cope with the volume of water and subsequently collapsed.

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The collapse exposed the infrastructure as well as other service supply lines.

It also led to the flooding of the properties closest to the collapse.

In January, the property of Leon Snyman’s mother was flooded with water levels reaching between 400mm and 700mm.

Although the construction work started several months ago, Damerell said the rains of December 5 flooded Aitken Road and properties in the area.

She said Aitken Road was flooded near the construction site because the stormwater drains were blocked.

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Rundle explained that continued development in the Greenstone area has contributed to the flooding in Eastleigh Ridge as rainwater has less area to be absorbed into.

Damerell believes another factor attributing to the flooding is the lack of maintenance of stormwater drains in the area.

Damerell said when construction first started in September, she was informed by the contractors that the project would be completed by the end of October.

“I’ve stood here with several officials and I told them that we don’t need bigger pipes, all we need to do is fix up the sidewalks and the drains so that the water can flow into the pipes,” said Damerell.

“In my humble opinion as a layman, the pipes are not an issue the issue is getting the water into the pipes.”

With companies closing in December, Damerell raised concerns that the project would not be completed.

“Christmas is coming and companies will be closing. As a community, we sit with an unsafe and unreflective construction site.

“We don’t know what to do. At night motorists can’t see this and with load-shedding, it will be nightmare waiting to happen.”

Rundle said the construction site has been in its current state for approximately a month.

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“The water flows in extremely fast but it at least gets fed away and is at least not going into the properties,” said Rundle.

“If the construction had not started, we would have had a catastrophe.”

Damerell said she was alerted of the contractor packing up their equipment several weeks ago by a community member walking in the neighbourhood.

Rundle said Damerell contacted him. He learned that there was an alleged payment dispute between the municipality and the contractor.

Near the construction site of the attenuation chamber, in the park between Da Gama and Ferdinand avenues, a trench on the south side of the park is being dug for concrete pipes.

Damerell said because of the construction work, which is close to the properties of residents, some of their boundary walls have started leaning over.

The park, which has heavy machinery operating in it, is not cordoned off.

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Damerell believes more safety measures are needed around the construction site at the park. She said until the construction was completed the resident’s association requested residents not to use the park.

A request for comment was sent to the City of Ekurhuleni on December 7 requesting comment by December 9 at 14:00.

At the time of going to print no comment was received.

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