Businesses hard hit by road upgrade
One of the owners said since construction work started, he has lost almost 60% of his customers.
Some businesses along Main Harding Road in Port Shepstone had to place staff on short-time and are now considering retrenchments due to a lack of business caused by the road upgrades.
Businesses such as Favrit Home Centre, Ismail’s Tile, and Curtain Master along Main Harding Road said they have been hard hit by the road rehabilitation.
One of the owners said since construction started, he has lost almost 60% of his customers. He said he has been told by customers that it is difficult for them to access the shop and also when leaving the store.
He added that he has even tried offering customers discounts and free deliveries, but the customers say they would rather go to another hardware store.
“Unfortunately, I can’t put a gun to a customer’s head and ask them to buy here, I have been chopping prices. When customers see what they have to go through to come here and go out, they say it is not worth it. We have been looking at innovative ways to get customers here but we can’t afford those ways. We have heard that the upgrades will only be complete in March 2023 and we are not too happy about that because we don’t see it happening because of the rate they are moving at while trying to complete the one lane,” he said, adding that he has already placed three of his drivers on short-time who are currently unhappy about the decision.
He added that on top of considering retrenchments, he is also thinking of selling some trucks and vehicles just to cut costs.
Meanwhile, Fazlin Hamid of Ismail’s Tile and Home Centre said the upgrade is a total inconvenience to everyone.
She said since one side of the road is taking so long to complete, she wonders what will happen when they start upgrading the lane that is currently open.
“Generally, October and November are our peak periods and so far business has been absolutely quiet. We are running a promotion which is helping us but as soon as it ends, we don’t know what will happen. The thing is they did not discuss it with businesses beforehand, we could have prepared ourselves. They only put up directional boards after a few months,” said Hamid, adding that the rehabilitation of the road needs to be sped up.
Zaid Khamissaa of Curtain Master also complained about the very limited access to their businesses on Main Harding Road.
Ray Nkonyeni Municipality spokesperson, Simon April told Fever that it is unfortunate that when development is done in an already operational site or place, surely some disturbances and inconveniences cannot be avoided, saying that what is most important is that the benefits of any development far surpass inconveniences.
“The municipality issued a notice regarding both rehabilitation of Nelson Mandela Drive and Main Harding Road. They made mention of the inconveniences that may be caused. Different stakeholders, including businesses, were engaged in the scope, duration, and what inconveniences may be experienced,” said April, adding the projects were anticipated to be completed by November 30 and January 31, 2023, respectively, saying that there has been inclement weather like the April floods which impacted negatively on the progress.
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