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POWER AND WATER OUTAGES due to fibre cable installations NTANDOYENKOSI DLAMINI >>ntandoyenkosi.dlamini@media24.com
T
HE installation of optic fibre cables in areas under the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality has been halted. This comes after residents reported power and water outages in their residential areas, with some reporting damage to their driveways. Margate resident Ronell van Rensburg said the installation company has been digging in her area for the past three weeks. “We have had non-stop power outages ever since they came. Last week, power was off for almost two days and some of our food went off. Yesterday, they hit a water pipe and an hour later, the electricity went off because they hit an electrical cable, I assume,” said van Rensburg, adding that one cable has been patched up in eight different places. “They even ran out of insulation tape and the workers came to us asking if we had the
tape. Whenever we call Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, they come out and assess the situation and before they leave, they say they will contact the contractor because they have an arrangement with them which states that whatever they damage, they must repair,” said van Rensburg. RNM spokesperson Simon April said the municipality has taken drastic steps to address the challenges caused by the optic fibre cable installation company. “This follows a series of damages to either electricity cables, water pipes, the roads or driveways. All these have resulted in residents being severely affected and inconvenienced. RNM, Ugu District Municipality and Eskom have all been affected as they have struggled with the turnaround time to restore power or water and even fixing the road due to unplanned and a huge number of damages,” said April. He added that last Friday, RNM’s senior
management met with the management of the installation company and it was agreed that the company will stop all the work until the latter submits a formal request to the municipality, and then the two parties will have to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) before the work can resume. “Among the key points in the MOU are: the company will have to inform RNM within 10 minutes of the damage of the electricity cable or water pipe, the affected entity (RNM, Ugu or Eskom) will then provide the company with the contractor to fix the damaged property or item in order for the supply to be restored and that shall happen within an hour. The company will bear the costs of fixing the said property or item. RNM, where possible, will provide the company with a list of dangerous areas for the company to avoid when installing the optic fibre cable,” said April. Furthermore, April said the municipality and the installation company acknowl-
edged that since the work had started, residents have been badly affected and they deserve a sincere apology. “The municipality is also of the view that this should have been handled better even before the work was permitted to start and is therefore, out of its own accord, sincerely apologises to the residents who have been negatively affected. Going forward, no work will be done up until both parties sign a Memorandum of Understanding which will set out means of quickly attending to unintended happenings or incidents,” said April.
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The installation of optic fibre cables has been halted. PHOTOS: NTANDOYENKOSI DLAMINI
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Some of the optic fibre cables installed in Marburg.
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