Business owners in Montague Gardens and motorists using Montague Drive on their daily commute say they are pleased with road repairs finally being attended to.
Road reinstatements are finally under way after the City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Directorate repaired 12 consecutive sewer collapses in Montague Drive, Milnerton in January.
The entire project is intended to be completed in just a few weeks by mid-June, the City says.
TygerBurger reported on the issue since August 2023 of the collapses occurring successively and at multiple points in the 50-year-old 900 mm fibre cement bulk sewer pipeline, which runs underground at a depth of five metres. The City then appointed a contractor to assist with emergency repairs to the sewer, which were completed in January 2024. Road reinstatement was the last phase needed to call the project to a close.
READ: Sewer repairs in Montague Gardens fast-tracked by City of Cape Town
However, the prolonged roadworks and sewer collapses in Montague Drive resulted in businesses running a loss and motorists having to use alternative routes.
Allister Brown says he used this road daily, but had to fork out more money for fuel after using alterative routes to get to work.
“If the City can be done by mid-June as they say, this will mean a lot to me. Not only financially, but I can be at work on time gain,” he says.
A business owner who does not want to be named says he lost thousands as a result of the collapse and prolonged repair.
he says.
Delays
The City says there were numerous delays, among which the need for a specialist road contractor. This was a joint intervention between Road Infrastructure Management Services (RIMS) and Water and Sanitation.
The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate is currently attending to an additional collapsed sewer in Montague Drive. Due to this occurrence, an additional section of the road needs to be closed, and traffic in the area will be diverted.
READ: Light at the end of pipeline as City of Cape Town finally repair major sewer collapses in Milnerton
The City is currently constructing an entirely new Montague bulk sewer pipeline to be completed by 2025. The current phase of this major project is valued at R470 million.
This complex project entails the construction of a new bulk sewer in Montague Gardens using innovative micro-tunnelling technology. The City will also extend and connect the Edgemead and Century City bulk sewers into the new infrastructure. Once the nearly 4 km of new bulk sewer is built by early 2025, the City will divert sewage along this new line while it rehabilitates the existing bulk sewer in Montague Drive, Montague Gardens (see additional information on page).
Reinstatements
The City says they aim to ensure that the road is reinstated to RIMS standards and specifications, with works totalling about 780 m2.
“I am pleased that reinstatements have finally started and also earlier than anticipated following the tireless efforts of our team to see the project to its completion.
The City budgeted approximately R2,5 million for the reinstatement phase of this major/multiple repair.
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“We share the frustration of the residents and business owners and thank them for their patience during this process.
“Every effort is being made to open at least one lane in the southbound carriageway as soon as possible. City teams will monitor the progress of the road reinstatements very closely until the work has been completed,” says the City’s Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien.
