How much longer must road users in Louis Trichardt wait for the Makhado Municipality to complete the road works in Anderson Street?

“This is just taking too long. For the whole of today, there was not one single soul on site. If the contractor was on site, the work could have progressed and the road works could have been completed by now,” remarked one irate home-owner of Anderson Street this week. Construction work on the stretch of this street between Stubbs and Ruh Street has been dragging on for months now. Other residents and road users shared this sentiment and wanted to know how the municipality could award the tender for the reconstruction of the street to a contractor working at such a slow pace. The question, however, is who the contractor is as there is no project signboard on site?

A request for details regarding the contractor remained unanswered by the municipality. Instead, the newspaper was referred to the project signboard at the “site office”. Where this office is, however, was not indicated.

A sign board on "Rehabilitation of Streets in Louis Trichardt town, contract 1 of 2011" was eventually located in Kort Street, displaying Consulting Engineer Dombo, Du Plessis & partners and Fantique Trade as the contractor. It was not clear whether it referred to the Anderson Street road works as well.

Residents of Anderson Street remain adamant that they were not consulted prior to the municipality's ripping up the road surface to begin construction work. The municipality also stayed silent on the question whether they had informed residents of the planned construction process and timeframes, prior to the start of the project.

“We need the part of Anderson Street directly in front of the residences [where construction is taking place] to be blocked off. We need traffic signs indicating that only residents should use that part. There are no road signs and some road users use that part as their race track,” another resident said

As for when the road works will be completed, it is clear that residents will have to endure the frustration a little longer, with the Makhado Municipality indicating that the starting date for the project was May 25 this year and the completion date will be on January 25 next year, depending on weather conditions and any other circumstances beyond the contractor's control.

“The road bed and the sub-base have been completed. The base and the surface cannot be done, due to the amount of moisture content on the sub-base, which is due to rain. Dry material will be imported and the existing material will be ripped as soon as that has happened and as soon as it has stopped raining,” said municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi.

In the meantime, road users who attempted to avoid the road works by taking a detour via Munnik Street this week also found themselves stuck, after the municipality had dug several massive trenches across the road. This time, however, Munnik Street was properly blocked off with red and white tape, with accompanying sign boards.