A stand of coastal forest that residents in a section of Port Alfred that is home to small wildlife might have been destroyed had it not been for a query about the routing of a new sewer line and a prompt response by municipal officials. As work to install sewer lines on the town’s west bank rapidly progressed along the top section of Smith Street towards the end of last week, it appeared that the plans the construction team were following meant when they reached the street’s lower section, which descends towards Beach Road, they would be clearing five metres of vegetation.
Since mid-2024, construction has been under way in Port Alfred on the long delayed Quick Wins sewerage project. This replaces a system with multiple pump stations that are vulnerable to metal theft and vandalism. The new system installed on the hilly east and west banks of Port Alfred is gravity based, with a few large pump stations. While more than two-thirds of Port Alfred properties have soakpits or conservancy tanks, they are now expected to connect to the new sewerage system. The ultimate goal, in addition to having fewer pump stations to secure and maintain, is to supply sufficient waste water to bring the so far unused three-megalitre-a-day wastewater reclamation plant into operation. This is core to the municipality’s strategy to meeting Port Alfred’s daily water requirement of around 8 megalitres a day.
The project is currently in phase 1, which is divided into six work packages three on the east bank and three on the west. With the bulk of the work on the east bank complete, the contractors have now moved to the west bank. Work package 4 includes the installation of a large sewer line along Smith Street, to the Beach Road pump station.
In a letter to Ndlambe’s infrastructure director Dr Noluthando VIthi and copied to Talk of the Town, a resident expressed alarm at what appeared to be the planned routing of the pipeline.
“The [contractors] say they will clear 5 metres from the road – this is indigenous coastal bush including milkwood trees, protected dassie habitats… It is also a very steep hill, and disturbance of the coastal vegetation is going to cause massive problems with water drainage when it rains. In addition, [Lower Smith Street] is in [a] severe state of disrepair. The old tar has long since broken up and is so trenched and potholed and washed away that our cars have got stuck. I cannot imagine why this road is being privileged and the coastal bush beside the road is being chopped out. This makes no sense.
“The upper Smith Street excavations happened in the middle of the road, not touching pavements, grass or gardens on the verges. Why is lower Smith Street (the section that winds down very steeply towards the sewerage pumping station on Beach Road) being treated differently?”
The resident, who requested anonymity, emphasised that she was not opposing the project; however, she queried whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) had been done that considered the potential for erosion if natural vegetation was removed, dassie habitats, milkwood trees, and at least one pair of spotted eagle owls that lived and hunted in the area.
In a response in which TOTT was copied, VIthi confirmed that an EIA had been carried out and a record of decision issued. She said she had requested the environmental practitioner to carry out a site inspection and investigate the matter.
On Tuesday, to the relief of residents, the excavation proceeded down the centre of lower Smith Street, in line with the top section.
However, with some bush clearing still under way (although not as severe as anticipated), there are still concerns about the rehabilitation of the hillside to prevent erosion. TOTT’s questions to Ndlambe Municipality about rehabilitation at this site, as well as Station Hill, hadn’t yet been responded to at the time of publishing.
Contractors in the Quick Wins Port Alfred sewerage project, Amlo Trading, under the supervision of Lukhozi Engineering, first had to undo substandard work done by their predecessor on Port Alfred’s East Bank. Further challenges included that maps of existing infrastructure (water, electricity, fibre) installed under and next to the road were incomplete or inadequate; and the terrain itself proved highly unpredictable.
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, June 5, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
