UPDATE: Georges Valley sink hole saga continues

The sink hole saga on the Georges Valley road continues as Batlagae Investments try to resolve the problem.

July 1, 2016

Deepa Kesa 2 minutes read

The Georges Valley road is still closed as construction continues.

The sink hole found under the R528 has been under construction for about two months now.

“This could have all been avoided, we could see that it was on its way to collapsing. To avoid this disaster, I went to speak to the MEC offices of Roads and Transport in Polokwane and the engineer there told me that the road is fine and that there is no such thing,” Rona McGaffin, a resident staying in the Georges Valley area told the Herald.

But all seems not to be ‘fine’.

The sink hole finally broke through and the road got closed up as the excavation started to take place.

The hole has created many problems and has inconvenienced and frustrated people in and around that area, especially because more trucks are now using the Magoebaskloof road, which puts smaller vehicles safety at risk.

Nile McGaffin told the Herald that the construction of the road was stopped a few days ago, because of a fiber optic cable that was found underground and Batlagae Investments could not do anything about it themselves.

According to information, the cable was not tampered with by Batlagae Investments; instead they reached out to Telkom to ask for their assistance.

Unfortunately because of Telkoms ‘refusal’ to help Batlagae in this battle, construction on the hole is at a stand still at this moment.

While driving on the R528 road to investigate the sink hole, it was shocking to see how many vehicles were actually using that road as well, it was assumed that they maybe have found an alternative route somewhere along that road, but that is not confirmed.

Letaba Herald has contacted Batlagae Investments, but they did not want to speak to the media, they said “It is not in a contractor’s protocol to talk to the media”.

We then contacted Batlagae’s clients and they also did not comment.

We have also contacted various other people linked to this construction and unfortunately, no one wants to give out any information right now.

That, until further notice, this road is still closed but once more information is gathered, Letaba Herald will make sure to inform our readers and residents using the road.

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