Despite some delays, contractor still on track in Stubbs Street

Date: 07 December 2023 By: Andries van Zyl

Despite some delays caused by heavy rains last Wednesday, construction work on Stubbs Street remains on track. Workers are persisting to achieve the complete rebuild of Stubbs Street between Krogh and Anderson Street by or before 15 December.

This project is among several road-rehabilitation projects currently underway in Louis Trichardt, aimed at addressing the poor condition of the town’s roads. N&C Civils, the appointed contractor, was responsible for the complete rebuilding of the busy Stubbs and Krogh Street intersection as well. The Stubbs Street contract, under project number 52/2023, holds a total value of just over R3.6 million.

To keep residents informed about the road's progress, a WhatsApp-group was formed, allowing Mr Walter Kamera, the project manager from N&C Civils, to address residents' inquiries and complaints. The group has been quite active over the past week.

Last Thursday, Kamera informed residents of a temporary halt in construction work due to heavy rains the previous day. He stated: “Please note that there won't be any site activities today on Stubbs Street due to heavy rains received in the past 12 hours. The site is wet, muddy, and slippery, hence construction activities cannot proceed.”

However, construction work resumed as soon as conditions allowed. Regarding progress, Kamera mentioned on Tuesday that the G2 base layer was at 95% completion. He stated: “We aim to complete processing the base to 100% status by the end of business today [Tuesday]. However, this is subject to Wearne Aggregates being able to supply the last nine loads of G2 material by lunchtime today, for which they have assured us they will be able to do.”

Similar to the Stubbs and Krogh Street intersection, the tarred road surface in Stubbs Street under construction is being replaced with paving blocks. “The supplier for 80mm paving blocks has started delivering the blocks. The bedding sand will be delivered today as well,” Kamera mentioned. On Wednesday morning, delivery trucks were seen offloading the paving blocks while construction workers hurried to complete the base. The paving of the road was scheduled to commence on Wednesday.

“Our plan is to apply sand on the paving joints wherever we have laid the blocks to lock the joints and open that section to traffic. These activities will continue until next week Friday, 15 December 2023, by which date we anticipate completing the paving of the street and fully opening it to traffic,” Kamera explained. Ancillary works, such as repairs to broken kerbs and casting of edge beams, will proceed simultaneously with the paving works in the street, he added.

Most residents welcome the current flurry of road works, although some argue that many other streets are in worse conditions than those currently being rehabilitated or entirely rebuilt. In June this year, municipal spokesperson Louis Bobodi indicated that Phase 1 of street rehabilitation and repairs for Grobler, Kleynhans, and Erasmus Street had already been completed. At that stage, Devenish, Hlanganani, Baobab, and parts of Grobler, President, and Kruger Street were undergoing rehabilitation. Bobodi mentioned that streets to be rehabilitated during the 2023/24 financial year included Rissik, Unika, Songozwi, Barnard, Snyman, Malva, and part of Grobler, as well as paving at the four-way intersection on the corner of Stubbs and Krogh Street (already completed), with Barnard Street in the process of being rehabilitated.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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