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Businesses suffer while roads are repaired

 

News  Date: 28 May 2004

 

MAKHADO (LOUIS TRICAHRDT) – A messy job with complaints and losses on all sides, could be a summary of the road constructions in the area, especially the Madombidzha road.

Completed at long last on May 20, the five- month long construction works on the Madombidzha road left behind a trail of suffering businesses. Complaints range from damaged vehicles to impoverishment to threatening bankruptcy. Simultaneous construction of roads in town, like Vorster Street, did not make things any easier. On the other hand, the rainfall and lack of co-operation on the side of the public were mentioned as factors prolonging the construction and appending losses.

"Never in my life have I seen such ill-mannered road users like we have experienced with the Madombidzha road. Road signs were damaged, drivers speeded straight into workers so that they had to run for their lives and twice employees were threatened with fire-arms," said Mr Jan Kruger, site manager of the project.

"On other sites, like a road construction in Thohoyandou, we don't even have to put out road signs. Drivers just refrain from driving on the road under construction."

The frustration of the Madombidzha road users matched the losses that the business sector suffered.

Palm Motors was one of about 20 businesses that were affected adversely. The owner, Mr Even Barnard, keeps an accurate computerized record of every vehicle visiting Palm Motors. In April 2004, the figures showed 3 900 vehicles visiting the petrol station.

"Our normal figure is over 16 000 vehicles per month. Thus, 13 000 vehicles per month were affected by the prolonged construction of the road," said Mr Barnard. Barnard said that he had made a comparison between January, traditionally a slow month, due to overspending in December, and March this year and between January and April. On premium fuel, March presented a turnover loss of R348 600 as compared to January, and April showed a turnover loss of a R471 580. Premium fuel sales dropped by more than half in March and by more than two thirds in April. Turnover losses on unleaded fuel and diesel were R47 766 and R39 100 when January was compared to April. The turnover at the café dropped by 50%.

"The construction of the road was handled with great clumsiness and no thought as to what the effect would be on the employer and employee. I had to put one of the employees on temporary leave. Taxi owners also complained about the damage to their vehicles," Mr Barnard said.

Other vehicles with damage are the 14 trucks of Limpopo Diaries.

"From January until April, the trucks had to travel on a daily basis on various gravel roads, which damaged their chassis. The alternative grated route was extremely poor. Products inside the trucks also suffered damage. At times the trucks had to use a 20km detour on the Ledig road. I feel this road might be in a worse condition than it was before," said Mr Tobias Fourie from Limpopo Dairies.

For the Dercksens of P&O Shaya Maize Depot on the corner of Vorster and Burger Street, this week was probably the worst in the history of the maize depot. After the Madombidzha road had been closed for many months, Vorster Street was closed completely and on Monday (24th), Burger Street was also under construction. After months of huge losses due to road constructions, Ms Nella Dercksen said: "When I saw that Burger Street was also inaccessible on Monday, it was just too much for me. A maize company only takes ten percent profit, so we are dependent on a huge turnover."

Mr Corrie Dercksen compared the maize depot's turnover of January until May 2003 with the corresponding months this year. The turnover for the four months dropped from R1,2 million to R559 000. The sales for May so far have dropped to an all-time low. The gross profit dropped from R122 000 to R55 000 for the four months. Sales dropped by more than half.

"I can't afford to keep all my employees anymore. Some will have to go. The situation is as bad as the time of the great floods and we feel like closing down," Mr Dercksen said on Tuesday.

"Tractors cannot use these so-called alternative roads next to Vorster Street," said Mr George Fogwell from Tractor Field Services, situated in Vorster Street. They suffered losses on sales of new and secondhand tractors and sales of spare parts fell by 100%.

Financial loss was also the complaint of the subcontractors of the Madombidzha road. The subcontractors are Thiko Civils, owned by Messrs Martiens Scmidt and Fred Beytel. According to a spokesperson, they suffered an estimated loss of R1,2 million on the reconstruction of the road. The reconstruction was due to the heavy rainfall in March and the refusal of drivers to refrain from using the road under construction.

"After the rain, we could have reconstructed that road for R200 000 if drivers had complied," said Mr Jan Kruger, site manager from Thiko Civils.

According to Mr Masindi Mapholi, the Makhado Municipality's Director of Technical Services, rain was the culprit.

"We have learnt from this. We are not going to award tenders during the rainy season again. Finally traffic is flowing on the Madombidzha road again. We sympathise with local businesses, but we cannot compensate them," Mr Mapholi said this week. Mr Mapholi said that the tender had been awarded to IPOPO, who subcontracted it to Thiko Civils.

 

Written by

Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

 

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