Rapid progress on PA’s Van der Riet Street project impresses
It has taken Ndlambe Municipality’s contractor, Amlo Trading, just over a week to take Main Street in the Port Alfred CBD from what looked like sheer disaster to near-complete street. On Thursday, Talk of the Town posted an article, explaining why a massive hole had been dug at the west end of Putt Bridge, and voicing the concerns of affected businesspeople at what looked like a disastrous situation.
Van der Riet Street, in the CBD, has experienced frequent sewage spills over the past few years. With a new, experienced contractor on board, Ndlambe Municipality vowed to pursue a long-term, sustainable solution. In a notice issued to local businesses and dated November 20, the municipal manager explained that because of multiple underground services, this maintenance plan had been revised. Maintenance work would start on Wednesday November 27 and end on Saturday November 30.
On Friday November 29, stunned residents and business owners looked aghast at a massive hole that was rapidly getting bigger. What had started as a simple project to replace a section of sewerage in a section of Van der Riet Street turned into a far bigger, more complicated undertaking.
In a meeting on Tuesday, the contractors told local businesspeople their projected completion date was December 13. But because of the massive scale of the excavation and the complications involved, business owners were skeptical and foresaw their festive season trading going down the drain.
Three days after that post, Ndlambe’s infrastructure director Noluthando Vithi shared with businesspeople her video of the progress that contractors Amlo Trading, supervised by Lukhozi Consulting Engineers, have made within a week. The video was taken on Saturday.
Vanessa Gerber, who owns Kowie Hardware, said, “I must admit most of us thought this is going to be a month-long process. Looking at what they have already done, I am impressed with the progress. They have really been pushing hard to get it done and as a business owner I am incredibly grateful to them. They have done incredibly well – thank you to everyone involved.”
Chairperson of the Port Alfred Business Forum and owner of Van der Riet Street based Multi Security, Clinton Millard, said, “Credit must go to the different stakeholders working as a team: the municipality for keeping us informed about what’s going on; the contractor for getting this all sorted and working through the night at times to get to this point; and to businesses for working together through this difficult period and understanding where we are and what we need to do to get through it so we can get ready for the season.”
Talk of the Town will continue to report…
