Officials taken to task over delays in addressing excavation work at Nature Reserve

PRESSURE on the city to address the erosion issue at Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve by the Friends of Pigeon Valley and councillor Mmabatho Tembe, paid off this week as workers were seen at the reserve tackling the problem.

In March this year, Crispin Hemson, chair of the Friends of Pigeon Valley, told Berea Mail that work had been undertaken to address the erosion on the main track of the reserve, after years of pressure on the municipality to do so by the Friends, however, the reserve had been left in a worse state than ever before.

ALSO READ: Erosion causes damage at Durban’s Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve

Hemson said work stopped in mid-December for the construction break, and even though the contractor returned to site in January, no work was done.

He said he was told by officials that work would start at the end of February, however nothing more has been done. Major damage has occurred and two of the extremely old and uncommon Fluted Milkwood trees have had their root systems exposed, and two smaller trees have already collapsed.

This week, ward councillor Mmabatho Tembe said she called for an on site meeting to get to the bottom of the issue.

“In the midst of lockdown I escalated this issue to the head of engineering as this is not the only open excavation in this ward. A lot of sand was also washed away during a storm in April,” said Tembe.

She said she met with Hemson, the engineer and a representative from Natural Resources at the reserve for an update on issues regarding the excavation.

“No work has been done, the excavation is still open and nothing has been fixed since the storm, despite my request. At the on site inspection, I asked the engineer for an update and was told that contractors should’ve been on site, but due to internal issues they had not returned to work,” she said.

“This is a beautiful reserve with beautiful trails, and it needs to be restored. I am concerned that officials are not taking this job seriously. I, along with Mr Hemson, will keep an eye of the progress,” she said.

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