After five years of complaints and petitions from Strandfontein residents, the City of Cape Town has finally erected barricades on Fisherman’s Lane at Strandfontein Pavilion.
The concrete barriers were positioned on Friday January 4, according to Eddie Andrews, the mayoral committee member for tourism, events and economic development.
Residents had recently accused the City of failing to fix the road, known as “Broken Road”, ahead of the festive season (“Fisherman’s Lane still in disrepair”, Plainsman, January 4).
With the road being in a serious state of disrepair, Mario Oostendurp, from the Proudly Strandfontein civic organisation, said the main concern had always been the safety of visitors to the pavilion.
“The pavilion, in my view, has been grossly overlooked and disregarded by the City, especially during the festive season. The area, with the ‘temporary’ hardened structures, however, does provide a sense of safety in the affected area closest to the tidal pool,” he said.
Mr Oostendurp said the progress of the proposed upgrades and development should be communicated to the public. “It has been nothing but promises thus far,” he said.
In September last year, close to 200 people signed an online petition asking the City to speed up the Fisherman’s Lane repairs.
The petition was posted on the Proudly Strandfontein and Friends of Strandfontein Pavilion Facebook pages on Monday September 12.
Mitchell’s Plain resident Sheana Abrahams said the City should spend as much on the pavilion upgrade as it would on facilities in affluent areas. “We are only good enough to vote, but service delivery is still very poor,” she said.
Gregory Esau, also from Mitchell’s Plain, said: “What are barriers going to do? They need to fix the area. They spend millions in other areas. What about Strandfontein?”
Anda Ntsodo, mayoral committee member for community services, said the area had been cordoned off with hazard tape before the barrier was installed, but the tape had been removed.
Mr Ntsodo said the City planned to present three design proposals for the area for public comment later this year. “An in-house landscape architect was assigned to this project, and a draft design for the rehabilitation of the area was drawn up. The draft design includes the removal of the existing broken road and the installation of a much-improved recreational area with a boardwalk and viewing decks or piers jutting into the sea for fishing access. The draft design will include specific aspects such as the length of the boardwalks and viewing decks or piers, the distance to set infrastructure back from oncoming wave action and the optimum path for vehicular access into the area,” he said.
