Residents oppose housing
The new proposed rental units.
WHITE RIVER - The White River Ratepayers and Residents Association (WRRRA) gave a collective thumbs-down to a private company’s proposed residential development of 200 houses on the erven 211 and
212 in William Lynn Street in Kingsview because of poor existing infrastructure.
The vice chairperson of the WRRRA, Pierre du Preez, said they are not supporting this because it will put pressure on the struggling infrastructure.
“We will only allow the development to go ahead if the infrastructure is upgraded, because it will negatively impact water, power, roads, the clinic and schools. This project was certainly fast-tracked by underhand operations and it was not considered where in White River it would be situated. It is not poor planning from a town perspective, but a corrupt one. There was no public participation and no proper impact studies were done,” Du Preez said.
“With load-shedding, parts of the town go for days without water because of the unstable water supply. The pumps are simply unable to operate in synchronisation because of the different schedules each pump is on. The promised generators have not materialised. The water system is also old and frail, and there is a lot of downtime spent repairing it.”
Du Preez added that there are currently not enough places in the local government schools for local children. “Promises to build more schools have amounted to nothing. Every new school year sees clashes at the schools between frustrated parents trying to get their children in and school bodies who can’t cope with the applications they can’t place.
“Mbombela is not managing waste removal, emergency services and maintenance effectively, and they certainly will not cope with additional load.”
He also said the WRRRA will do whatever it takes to stop the project.
The City of Mbombela’s spokesperson, Joseph
Ngala, said, “The township establishment process ensures that services are provided for the proposed development in that township. The proclamation of Kingsview Ext 1 and the subsequent transfer of the erven in the township are an indication that services for these erven have been planned for and provided, as this process is inclusive of all service delivery departments in the city.”