New fire station brings relief to eSikhaleni
RESIDENTS rejoiced on Thursday when City of uMhlathuze Deputy Mayor, Cllr Silondile Mkhize officially opened the eSikhaleni Fire Station.
The R17.3-million fire and rescue facility conforms to the national standards of emergency responding times, which demands 20 minutes to the airport, harbour and industries and national key points within the district.
Firefighters will be attending to more than 15 wards plus the N2 highway and R102 main road high accident zones as well as some parts of the King Cetshwayo District.
With thousands still relying on paraffin stoves and open fires, residents can now finally look forward to having emergency assistance in the area this winter season.
In the past, the absence of quick firefighting response resulted in gruesome scenes, with many lives, especially children, snuffed out during accidental fires.
‘This facility meets all requirements as per the national fire and rescue regulations and it also has the drill tower, training pool, lecture and training room,’ said Mkhize.
‘Having this facility is the key to our economic growth since we are now able to attract investors with confidence and approve skyscraper buildings.
‘We recently invested more than R10-million into purchasing the Mega Fire Fighter and Rescue equipment from Finland, with the Bronto Skylift which has a capacity to rescue or extinguish fires as high as a 15-storey structure,’ she said.
Construction delays
The eSikhaleni fire station contract was initially awarded to preferred bidder Nonjenje/ Umbambano JV on 26 March, 2014.
However, the project suffered continual delays and, according to previous Exco reports, one of the joint venture parties left the site, ultimately resulting in a breach of contract.
The site was visited continually, revised programmes failed and when the builders ran out of materials, work stopped completely and the contract was terminated in December, 2014.
In 2015 the contract was then awarded to Ziqoqe Construction, who had been placed second on the original tender list.
After resuming work at the site, the construction company also began having financial problems.
A new company was then appointed in 2017.