City bathers left high and dry
Work appears to have stopped at Rachel Finlayson pool – again
THE LONG overdue renovation of the Rachel Finlayson Pool on North Beach has again come to a standstill, after repair work first began in 2015.
Then, the ethekwini Municipality moved with haste to upgrade the pool, which is a Durban landmark, because it was earmarked to be used for aquatics events during the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which the city hoped to host.
According to the city’s planning projections for the games, R4 million was set aside for upgrades to the pool.
However, after all the hype around the games coming to Durban and the financial boon it would bring, Durban’s bid to host the international sporting event collapsed last year. This was due largely to the national government’s refusal to provide the required financial guarantees that would have secured the bid.
Ever since the excitement around the Commonwealth Games evaporated, there has been no news on when repair work at one of Durban’s long-standing attractions would be completed.
When City Watch visited the pool this week there were no workmen or work in progress visible.
The pool was partially filled with water from recent rains and the grass patches around the pool area are now overgrown with weeds.
Residents and visitors have lodged numerous complaints with city officials about the unkempt state of the pool, but their concerns are yet to be addressed.
When the work halted early last year, the city’s spokesperson, Tozi Mthethwa, said the renovation was stopped so the city could have time to procure a finishing contract and implement it within the latest financial year.
Mthethwa also said the renovations posed a significant challenge as the full scope of the repair work to be undertaken could only be determined once the concrete walls and floors of the pool were exposed to mitigate or eliminate the significant amount of daily water loss.
She did not indicate the budget the city had set aside for the required repair work.
North Beach Ward councillor Conrad Dlamini said he was not aware of a stoppage of work and promised to get full details on the matter.
DA Proportional Representative Councillor Nicole Graham said a site meeting had been held last week and the pool repairs were meant to be completed by the end of April.
“The contractors are clearly not on site and numerous visits to the site have found it completely empty with no workmen about. I have been probing this issue since 2016.
“The project has already run millions of rand over budget and now it is years behind schedule.
“Our beachfront is becoming more of a mess, tourists are abandoning Durban at a rapid rate and people who live in the area deserve much better. It’s unacceptable,” said Graham.
Mthethwa this week insisted that the contractor was on site, despite the fact that City Watch visited the site to find the construction empty. She said the construction of the pool had not been halted and it should be completed in July 2018.
“The Rachel Finlayson swimming pool is undergoing structural refurbishment. The contractor is currently on site. Please note that this completion date might change as construction is dependent on the weather,” she said.