MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Mossel Bay farmer John Robertson wrote this letter to the Midbrak Ratepayers Association following months of endless roadworks in the area:
I wish to appeal to the Midbrak Ratepayers' Association to express an opinion and act in the interest of businesses and individuals adversely affected by the process and methodology being followed with the reconstruction of the R102 road.
Yes, I know the R102 is a provincial road. This does not make it immune to comment from a local structure.
The reconstruction process and methodology followed baffles rational and logic comprehension. The construction process has enjoyed two of the driest years in the past 50-year period. This would imply that weather has had little or no effect on delaying or influencing the construction process.
However, the methodology followed appears to follow the narrative of adversely affecting the maximum number of individuals over the largest possible geographical footprint.
No explanation is forthcoming for the enforced delay in ensuring the completion and removal of the stop/go's at the Impala and Riverside intersections.
Work is started, not completed or a temporary completion done for later reconstruction. Then, for weeks or months, nothing further is done towards completion. This is incomprehensible. The road between Little Brak River and Hartenbos is completed, road markings painted and then 18 months later, work is started on the bridge.
Financial losses
I shudder to think of the financial losses incurred by small businesses such as Munro's, Little Brak Motel or Swan's nursery, to name a few. The quality of the construction work too leaves much to be desired.
The recent 50mm downpour below Fraaiuitsig resulted in road subsistence, reconstruction and further delays. The road surface itself makes an interesting ride. I believe that Power Construction cannot be held solely responsible for the debacle that is playing itself out here.
Kantey and Templar, as the consulting engineers, must also be apportioned blame for the methodology being followed. We only hope that neither of these entities are allowed anywhere near the contract for the reconstruction of Louis Fourie Road. As a farmer who has the official detour over his property we experience loss of production through the incessant dust clouds on our pastures from the diverted traffic on the Sandhoogte Road.
In the present drought we cannot afford the luxury of washing pastures clean of dust with irrigation water to ensure palatable feed for our livestock.
For the past year we have watered the divisional road with manure water and our own tanker to reduce dust on our home and our workers' homes.
I feel that the ratepayers' association should publicly, preferably in the print media, express an opinion on the construction process, the time frames identified and the contractor and consultants involved.
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