WATCH: The forgotten stretch of Utrecht Street – What dangers lurk in the traffic?
Any parent dropping their children off outside New Republic School can attest to the fact that the pothole-pocked section of road outside the school is in desperate need of repair and has been for several years.
Remember when AbaQulusi Municipality spent all that time and money on the Utrecht Street Rehabilitation Project?
The project was initially proposed in 2015, but work eventually commenced on the relatively large undertaking in 2016.
The project was primarily set to include the stretch of Utrecht Street between Republiek and East Streets. However, when the tender was eventually awarded to Thembalethu Civils in February 2016, the entire block between Deputasie and Republiek Streets had been surreptitiously removed from the deal.
Any parent dropping their children off outside New Republic School can attest to the fact that the pothole-pocked section of road outside the school is in desperate need of repair and has been for several years.
According to a source at the school, they were approached by the municipality in early 2016 and instructed to send out letters to the parents informing them that roadworks were due to commence by the end of February. The source stated that the letters were sent out by February 1, but by February 28, when they were expecting the roadworks to begin, nothing had happened.
At the end of April 2016, following some minor setbacks, the project commenced, but the busy stretch of road outside the school was snubbed. While the rest of the street, from Deputasie Street all the way down to East Street, underwent major repairs, New Republic School retired humbly to it’s forgotten corner of Vryheid as road repairs continued without them.
Sometime between February 17 and 19, it appears that someone filled the multitude of potholes between Republiek and Deputasie Streets with stones and pebbles, like many who have given up hope waiting for the municipality to take action.
This may have been a good idea at the time, but the recent rains coupled with the high volume of traffic on school mornings and afternoons has left the pothole filling attempt in shambles as the pebbles and stones now lay haphazardly across the road.
“Our school is getting bigger,” commented one of the teachers at the school. “These potholes outside the school create a danger for the children being dropped off or picked up as they run the risk of being hit by a vehicle swerving to miss a pothole…”
AbaQulusi Municipality’s Media Liaison, Arnold Ramodibe, was unavailable to comment.
