JPC re-assures residents of Fairmount sports field maintenance

FAIRMOUNT – While the community members said nothing was being done, JPC said a maintenance programme was in place.

Naidine Sibanda

April 30, 2021

A littered pavement in front of the illegally occupied Fairmount clubhouse. Photo: Supplied

Residents in Fairmount have expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of progress on the state of the Fairmount Sports Club.

A visit to the sports field by the Rosebank Killarney Gazette towards the end of last year (2020) showed that the field was in a state of disrepair with overgrown vegetation, littered dwellings and what the Metro police in attendance at the visit termed an illegal occupation of the clubhouse.

Some grass cutting was done on this section of the sports field by City Parks. Photo: Supplied

Residents have, however, followed up to report that not much progress has been done on the site by the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC).

The human resources manager at JPC, Rajan Ramkisson, however, shared that a site visit with Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) was held on 11 February to enable them to take measurements of the site so they would be able to do grass cutting.

Some work done by City Parks on a section of the property. Photo: Supplied

They found that the area of the facility which requires grass cutting measured 34 000m². “The JCPZ commenced with the grass cutting and clearing soccer field and surrounding areas,” said Ramkisson.

He further said a technical assessment of the facility was commissioned on 16 February where all works were evaluated and commenced with the City’s facilities management team.

Sanitation is an issue at the illegally occupied tennis clubhouse. Photo: Supplied

Ramkisson added that the following issues will then be further dealt with:

Completion of the grass cutting
Completion of rubble removal
Completion of the removal of the tennis courts’ fencing to access the long bamboos and shrubs at the far end of the facility.
A site briefing was held on 20 April for the quotations for the pruning of the large trees and shrubs within the perimeter of the fencing and the tennis courts. The closing of the (request for quote) RFQ is 26 April.
Further works will follow the same process of the three-quote systems for all the remaining works. All the remaining works are ongoing and will continue until further notice.