Residents request speedy repair on Kenville road
The ratepayers’ association, residents on Kew Road and the local ward councillor have called for work to be completed speedily after repairs began earlier this year.
KENVILLE residents have questioned when repairs to Kew Road will be completed.
In March last year, Northglen News reported that a section of the residential road had collapsed and fault line cracks had appeared along the middle of the road.
Months later, the road condition worsened, and the collapse widened all the way to the pavement, edging closer to residents’ properties.
The ratepayers’ association, residents on Kew Road and the local ward councillor have called for work to be completed speedily after repairs began earlier this year.
“Some work has been completed, however, there has been a lull in construction work in the last month or so,” explained Ward Councillor Bobby Maharajh. “While it is great to see the road has been backfilled, the repairs seem to be dragging on. Residents are angry and frustrated, and I don’t blame them. This is one of the routes to access Queen Nandi Drive, and to know that two and a half years later, that repair work is still not finished, is rather disappointing.
Kew Road resident, Patrick Bhudram, said an added problem of the incomplete repair work was that some motorists were driving over the stones and gravel to access other parts of Kenville.
“It is actually unbelievable. I’ve seen bakkies and other vehicles try to drive through the construction site despite two signs clearly saying ‘Road Closed’. An additional problem is now they’ve damaged the surface that the contractors had backfilled to bring it level with the road. I do agree with our ward councillor that this project to repair the road is taking far too long. I can understand the municipality is strangled with the work to repair the damages from the floods, but Kew Road’s collapse started almost two years ago. All we would like is for the repairs to be carried out quicker to alleviate traffic pressure in the area,” he said.
Anil Beekrum, chairman of Kenville/Sea Cow Lake Ratepayers’ Association, echoed Bhudram’s sentiments.
“I’ve been told this project will take another two months to complete, but I’m not sure that will actually happen. We feel the eThekwini Municipality is dragging their feet. It is frustrating as other roads are bearing the brunt of an increase in traffic volumes, particularly Hendon Road. Residents are frustrated and rightly so. When you look at it, repairs only started this year, almost two years since the collapse. It is unacceptable and unfair,” he said.
Beekrum added that repairs to the Kenville Road bridge and work on Inanda Road and Sea Cow Lake Road had compounded matters.
The municipality hadn’t responded at the time of this article going to print.
