Pretoria - The Ekurhuleni Metro has vowed to take tougher action against contractors whose carelessness is resulting in extensive damage to council infrastructure, leading to residents and businesses being inconvenienced.
Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) responsible for Water, Sanitation and Energy, Aubrey Nxumalo, said the municipality would uncompromisingly impose stiffer penalty tariff rates ranging from R20 000 to R150 000, excluding the costs of damages.
This comes after in a space of a week, mistakes by contractors resulted in consumers in the Kempton Park and Alberton areas experiencing power outages due to contractors who damaged major cables while doing excavation work.
In a recent incident, a contractor working in the Alberton area damaged five cables on Tuesday, 14 May, resulting in Brakenhurst and Brakendowns, including surrounding areas, being without electricity for some hours.
The same contractor again on Thursday, 16 May damaged a 33kV cable, affecting even more suburbs.
"The same problem is experienced with water and sanitation pipes and it could be avoided if contractors were to exercise some level of due diligence in carrying out their job," Nxumalo said.
He said the contractors were given a wayleave, which is documentation that not only grants permission for work to commence, but also stipulates where cables are situated within the area where the work will be done.
"Before any excavations, contractors are given services plans that tell them what infrastructure is lying where.
“Without thorough consideration and inspection of these documents, a situation like what happened in Kempton Park will occur again. We therefore call on all contractors to exercise due diligence," Nxumalo urged. - SAnews.gov.za
