Umdloti's North Beach Road Disaster Zone

We all love our peaceful and funky Umdloti village. We love the pristine beaches, the promenade and the trendiest folk around. But this seemingly peaceful community has been hit by a series of fatal blows and the local community is at their wits end trying to preserve their livelihoods. Their calls however seem to have fallen on deaf ears and they are feeling completely abandoned and ignored.

In recent weeks Umdloti's beach road has taken a serious battering, the North Beach Road section especially. Unfortunately much of the sand that usually slopes up to the loffelstein wall has been striped bare by the surf. This sloping sand absorbs a great deal of the force of the waves. And it was after the waves, which undermined the sea wall, the two day monsoon added to the destruction. Now the north beach road in front of Tasca Pizza and Sand bar is threatening to collapse while the council put up concrete booms to alert the traffic, pedestrians continue walking on unstable paths, which threaten to collapse.

The Bugle has tried to get a concrete answer from the eThekwini Municipality our correspondence starts with an email to Floyd Mabuya, Superintendent (Aquatic Safety), who kindly forwarded an update, from Justin Pringle, Civil Engineer, Coastal Engineering Department, eThekwini Municipality, which stated, "We are aware of the damage - in fact we requested environmental authorization from EDTEA in the first week of April! I have drafted a report to City Manager with Letter of Award and we have a contractor ready to begin repair works ASAP. The report is sitting with Head: Engineering for signatures. However we are still awaiting environmental authorization and can only precede once this has been granted."

But it was an email from Mary-Anne North from eThekwini Municipality Architecture Department that really got me concerned, in her statement to Floyd she first apologizes for all the inconvenience he has been faced with due to the annoying emails, "I am sorry that you and your staff are being placed in this position. Unfortunately we were notified by the Environmental Department that construction on that site triggers an EIA basic assessment, which prohibits us from starting work on site until we have Environmental clearance. Because the Basic Assessment can take anything up to 2 years to complete, we have looked at ways to adjust our proposal to avoid this trigger, but these have been unsuccessful. We are now appealing to the Environmental Department to allow us to proceed on the basis that this building is an emergency and until then we can't commit to a programme."

The problem is much bigger than anyone can imagine. The collapsing road, as it no longer is just the walkway that has collapsed. The North Beach road had been undermined and is threatening to fall into the sea. There is no visible protection, safeguarding the pedestrians.

Vanessa Maclou, District Manager and Grade 1 Environmental Management Inspector, replied, "My office is inundated with numerous similar requests from the City. Whilst the Dept understands urgency we also need to advise that we are only receiving the necessary documentation in a fragmented manner- this is delaying a speedy response. We will appreciate if the City can have one single focal point for communication in these matters, as it is a challenge to keep track of all emails and link back to the specific matters at hand."

A week of emails going forward and backwards and still no action from the eThekwini Municipality. 58 Ward Councillor, Geoff D A Pullan tried to reason with his comment, "It is well known that the municipality acts incredibly slowly, as officialdom has to go through extensive procedures to assess, recommend, design and authorise repairs to the sea wall. Our Coastal Engineering department is well aware of the problem and are attending to fixing it."

It has been a stressful couple of weeks for the local businesses based on North Beach Road, Marco Coehlo, owner of Tasca Pizza is outrage at the lack of visible interest by the council, speaking from his restaurant he said, "The damage has still not been properly assessed. It's a huge public safely issue and a threat to our livelihood. It's now passed environment concern it's a matter of life and death. As the road has clearly become undermined and unstable,"

While Kyle Heyman, manager of the Sandbar tried to convey his frustration at the total disinterest he experienced and helplessness he felt when he saw the street lamp collapsing down the bank exposing dangerous electrical cords and he was pushed from pillar to post with no one wanting to come and help.

Local estate agent Marie Huckles who lives on North Beach Road just past the collapsed areas, is currently selling properties in the new Sibaya Node, she said, "As an estate agent in the area. This eyesore undermines the value of property not only in Umdloti but also for the new development in Sibaya. If this not addressed soon Verulam will be the next beachfront."

Vanessa Maclou, District Manager and Grade 1 Environmental Management Inspector, concluded, "Please may I advise that the City has been delegated this function back in 2014 recognising the concerns raised in these emails. We also advise the City to prepare a generic maintenance management plan in 2014 for our approval. If this was done, then this repair work could have proceeded way back in April 2017. I am unsure as to why it is taking the City this long despite several engagements to revise an old maintenance management plan approved by us, to align it to the 2014 EIA regs. In this matter we have given several directives on how to structure the info we require and still we receive info in bits and piecesthe City really needs to take these matters more seriously please."

The time for negotiations and meetings and planning is over it is time to act and act fast lives are at stake and this cannot wait any longer. Umdloti North Beach Road needs to be attended to NOW! Before there is a calamity.