Potholes are an unfortunate reality that many Buffalo City Municipality residents are forced to deal with.
The rainy weather East London has been experiencing over the last few months has exposed the terrible conditions of the roads and the potholes that have become a headache for road users.
Residents living in Tewksbury Road have been forced to use alternative routes as driving on these roads is a risk to their safety and could damage their cars.
Other problematic roads around BCM include Wembley Drive in Cambridge, St Peters Road in Southernwood, Jennings Road in Cambridge West, Parkridge Road in Pefferville and Park Avenue Road in Parkside, among others.
A worker at one of the stores in The Hub Complex in Beacon Bay says customers have complained multiple times about the potholes at the entrances to the complex.
“Our customers sometimes complain about how bad the road is when they come into the complex. We have addressed the issue with landlords but nothing has been done,” he said.
A Beacon Bay patron, who wants to remain anonymous because she is also a municipal worker, says the potholes are a financial liability for residents.
“The potholes are affecting me because everything has gone up. If you lose a tyre and you have to pay to have it fixed, that is a lot of money that you did not budget for. It is especially worse on rainy days because then you don’t even see the potholes,” she said.
A sub-contractor contracted by Imonti Construction says the biggest issues the roads are faced with are wear and tear caused by lack of maintenance.
Councillor Frederick Pohl of ward 28 explained there were many issues preventing the immediate solving of the issue.
“The Buffalo Metro Municipality must realise a proper programme for the re-sealing of our streets has to be started. It is, however, in many instances too late to start such a programme. Some of our streets need rebuilding since the foundations are severely affected by years of neglected maintenance.
“It is indeed the task of the municipality to repair potholes.
“Unfortunately, it is very difficult to start any programme to improve our streets without funding. We must, however, realise that all these processes take time, time that was stolen by years of neglect by BCMM to do proper maintenance of the infrastructure,” he said.
Bonza Bay Road was in the process of being repaired on Monday afternoon.
