“Goodwood’s Station subway smells, it is dirty and waterlogged.”
These are the comments made by residents who use the subway almost daily. And they want it fixed.
The subway is described as an unpleasant experience.
“It smells, it is dirty and waterlogged. Another major hiccup is the motorbikes that want to forcefully pass through while driving at abnormal speeds to get their deliveries done on time.”
According to the residents there is always mud and water because of the social housing development done around the station.
Neil Engelbrecht from the property division at Prasa Corporate Real Estate (Prasa Cres) said their property division in the region is aware of the challenging conditions at Goodwood Station, especially the subway.
Engelbrecht stated that as part of resolving the current challenges, the division had an on-site meeting on Thursday 27 July to address and resolve the challenges with the subway.
The meeting was scheduled among Prasa Cres, the local ward councilor, Chris Jordaan, and representatives of GrandWest Casino.
Waterlogged subway
Unfortunately, Jordaan could not attend the meeting but in conclusion and after constructive deliberations, they resolved that the primary reason for the waterlogged subway was a faulty pump, responsible for pumping out the water in cases of severe rain that was experienced over the past weeks.
Engelbrecht said it will be attended to immediately through a collaborative operational approach between Prasa Cres and GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World.
“The reason for the latter mentioned is that the staff of GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World (Sun International) are also making use of the subway daily to get to and from their place of work,” says Engelbrecht.
‘The meeting bore no fruit’
According to Jordaan, the meeting between Prasa and GrandWest bore no fruit.
Jordaan said the challenges that the community face are because there is no lighting and GrandWest repaired the lighting, which was stolen the same night.
He stated that the security of Prasa was there before with dogs but was taken away. Now motorbike drivers use the footbridge as an entrance and exit for deliveries.
“Many people are mugged and robbed of their personal belongings, and I make a sincere plea to Prasa to come to the table as the City of Cape Town has a new development right next to the station, which will make the lives of the community that make use of public transport so much easier,” Jordaan said.
