Still no resolution for Briardene residents’ road woes
Some residents have begun dumping their rubbish next to the damaged sections of the road.
BRIARDENE Informal Settlement residents have voiced their frustration over the state of Clara Place which for the last four years, has been in a state of disrepair. A persistent water and sewage leak had undermined a large section at the end of the road causing the surface to cave and break away, sparking fears of a total road collapse.
While the leak has stopped, the road is still in need of urgent maintenance. Residents say they have reported the matter to the City on several occasions but nothing had been done. In January 2017, the City conducted a geotechnical assessment finding the problem with the sloping ground had started in 1996.
Following the assessment, several recommendations by the Roads Provision Department Pavement and Geotechnical Engineering was handed over to the City. One of those included a full field geotechnical investigation including borehole drilling carried out to model the slope and subsoils and analyse what parameters are sensitive to so that the most effective (and economic) method of stabilising could be recommended.
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The section of collapsed road has now given illegal dumpers an excuse to dump building rubble and other items in the sections between the road and a sloping bank on Clara Road.
“Essentially it may have stopped one problem, but is has started another,” said Durban North ward councillor, Shaun Ryley. “The illegal dumping is going to make it more difficult for the City to solve the issue. I understand this is a big job and requires the assistance of several departments but this wouldn’t be a problem if the City had carried out the recommendations made by the geotechnical study. It would be great if the residents were given some feedback as to what is going on. Some residents in the community say they are happy about the illegal dumping because now vehicles can turn at the end of the road.”
Clara Road resident, Thulani Maieane, who lives metres away from the collapsed section of the road say other residents have begun dumping their rubbish next to the damaged sections of the road.
“We’ve had to burn rubbish dumped here so it won’t become a problem. We are frustrated because while the building rubble has filled out a the damaged part of the road, we are still facing the problem and still nothing is done about it. We hope the City will hear our frustrations and see our plight and fix the road,” he said.
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