Road closure causes distress
Large trucks and heavy traffic are causing unrest for many residents of East Geduld due to a road closure.
Vincent Ngwatle (32) says he has had many sleepless nights due to traffic and trucks constantly moving through the normally quiet suburb.
Part of East Geduld Road was closed off last Sunday (May 31) by Impala Platinum Refineries in order to replace the netting over the tunnel.
“It is really inconvenient as I can’t sleep at night and peak traffic is an absolute nightmare,” he says.
Van den Bosch Street in East Geduld, where Ngwatle resides, is bustling with traffic.
“Small children are used to playing in and around the streets as it is normally quiet, but now it is dangerous for them with the large amounts of traffic passing through and the street is not equipped to handle this volume of traffic,” he says.
Ngwatle adds that residents were not informed of the closure.
Charles Ndlovu, one of the pointsmen who helps direct traffic, says notice boards were put in place to warn residents one week prior to the closure.
Scott Stevenson, general manager at Impala Platinum, says, “We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and to assure the public that Impala Platinum Refineries is committed to minimising the disruption as much as possible as we replace the netting over the tunnel in East Geduld Road between our stores and the platinum metals refinery.”
He explains that the netting is not only an important security feature for the refineries, but also ensures the safety of both vehicles and pedestrians using this road.
Netting needs to be replaced approximately every five years, a process that should take two weeks to complete.
“In order to minimise the disruption to traffic, we have tried to limit this to just one week,” says Stevenson.
He states that all due processes were followed to gain the necessary authorisations for the closure of the road from all relevant authorities including the police and emergency services.
Regulatory signage for the detour as a result of the road closure was installed five days prior to the closure.
Traffic was redirected through Robertson and End streets and pointsmen were present to direct traffic.
Wilfred Kgasago, spokesman for the EMPD, says the Springs Precinct Commander is aware of the project.
“Impala Platinum applied to EMM Roads department via EMPD,” he says.
“The closure is not of great significance with regards to traffic flow, and employees of Impala Platinum are assisting with re-directing traffic,” he concludes.
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