Matsapha Town Council has committed itself to working hard towards fixing the damages caused by the rains from the past few days. The storm on Thursday, 14th November affected the town the most, resulting to a number of damages. The damage attributed to trees falling and closing off roads, washing of soil into the roads, damaged infrastructure, and flooding of buildings due to clogged drains.
Fortunately Council immediately acted on the damages on the same day and is still working on control the damage. The first point of action was clearing roads blocked by trees. The damage control is being addressed according to the extent of the damage, to limit any inconvenience or frustration of our valuable rate payers.
Council is also working on unblocking and upgrading the town’s drainages, to avoid flooding of roads and building structures. The clogging is normally a result of litter which is normally washed off into the drains. Council is engaged in a number of activities which will look into addressing the problem. Well before the rains hit hard, in the month of October about 4.5km of side drains were attended and other activities are being done as highlighted below:
- Increasing the number of workers to fast track the process of clearing clogged drains and road sweeping.
- Jetting of drains- a pressure machine is used to unclog the drains to allow water to flow in. Drains jetted are along King Mswati III West Avenue, King Mswati III East Avenue, next to Steel and Wire. Other locations yet to be unclogged are by Southern Star, Along Mondelez, 5th Avenue and Mica Junction.
- Unlined drains from prioritized locations are being upgraded to concrete drains, which are easier to maintain. Tabankulu Street is at 70% completion, where a concrete drain has been constructed.
The extensive damage that happened to both infrastructure and private properties is a serious setback in our town and is highly regretted. Council has assessed the damage around the town and is working on fixing it. The period of addressing damages around town, may be long due to financial constraints, the ongoing rains and the amount of work that is required to fix damaged infrastructure. The public is assured that all issues will eventually be addressed, for now we request for patience from the public.
