Durban — Kenville residents were asked to be patient as the Kenville Road closure may take extra time to open due to children’s safety concerns.
This is according to ward councillor Bobby Maharajh after residents held a meeting with engineers working on site to voice their frustrations caused by the road closure. It has been five years since the road was closed, and the closure has affected residents who in the past travelled 400 metres to get on to Inanda Road and then on to North Coast Road.
Vice-chairperson of the Kenville/ Sea Cow Lake Ratepayers’ Association, Anil Beekrum, said they were fed up with the delays.
“We have been fighting for this road for years now and we are tired. At first we were told that the road was going to be closed for one year, which was going to be from 2018 to 2019 because of the building of the bridge; then it went up from there, and every year they say the municipality does not have funds.
“We are not sure what the problem is because the road is complete and we opened it last Wednesday, and people from the informal settlements protested for the road to be closed, saying it posed a danger to children since there are no speed humps. That is not our problem because a road is not a playground and people must look after their children,” said Beekrum.
He said the road closure had caused so much frustration and had been costly because they were forced to spend a lot of extra money on fuel.
“For the past five years it has cost us a lot of fuel to travel. There are about 100 families living in a flat nearby and it has cost us more money and kilometres to travel,” said Beekrum.
He said informal settlers were dictating to them that they wanted speed humps before the road opened. He added that residents had been sending countless emails to the municipality over the years pleading for the road to be opened, but nothing was done.
One source at the scene, who refused to be named, said the road was not closed because of construction faults. However, construction workers and engineers needed authorisation from the municipality to open the road for operation.
A resident, Miriam Khan, said it was hard to pray at the mosque because it was a struggle for people to get there.
“The mosque is finding inconveniences, they have fewer students at the school and our tenants in the building are moving out, and flats are empty. This is affecting the owners, people, and businesses.
“As a result, we have to travel around North Coast Road through Nandi Drive. It is hard, especially with petrol going up often, and people do not have money. There are old people living in the building who need to get Ubers to travel,” said Khan.
She said that five years was a long enough time and speed bumps should have been installed already.
Ward 34 councillor Bobby Maharajh said the closure was due to children’s safety concerns. He said that a while back he was informed that there had been a stoppage of work by informal settlers, concerning that should the road be reopened without speed humps, it might cause harm to their kids.
“There are kids living in the informal settlements near Kennedy Road and they have no clue about the dangers of crossing the road, they just pass without looking twice because when the road was closed five years ago, they were not born.
“We must prioritise a person’s life above everything else, which is why it is important we first put in speed humps before reopening the road,” said Maharajh.
He said that he has been raising the issue with the municipality over the years because he wants it resolved urgently.
“We had a chat with the municipality and I was informed that the road does not qualify for speed humps, now this is a cause for concern because it is dangerous for kids,” said Maharajh.
He said the public must be patient in the meantime while respective teams and departments still working around the issue.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said the City closed Kenville Road in 2018 and had envisaged to reopen it a year later.
“The City notes the community’s frustrations and acknowledges that the matter merits urgent priority. We apologise and ask for further patience while working to resolve this matter.”
She said speed humps were evaluated and installed in terms of a council-approved Traffic Calming Policy which looks at various factors including the number of accidents and the environment among others depending on the respective road class.
“In some instances where speed humps cannot be installed additional road markings and signage is put up as this might help mitigate accidents,“ Khuzwayo said.
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