Blame game over Doonside burst pipes and soil erosion

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18-03-2025
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South Coast Sun
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Residents living near the Kingsburgh Junction construction site are at their wits' end after experiencing multiple water outages since construction of the new mall began.

AGEING municipal infrastructure and recent heavy rains have been cited as the cause of multiple pipe bursts near the Kingsburgh Junction construction site in Doonside.

The development, spearheaded by AJ Property Holdings, is bordered by Seadoone Road, Harmony Place, Umfuleni Road, and the N2.

Between February and March, three consecutive pipe bursts along Umfuleni Road left residents without water for days. Frustrated locals took to social media, accusing the contractor of triggering the outages by destabilising the ground during excavation, something they claim never happened before construction began.

Rory Stephens, a concerned resident, said the excavation extended right up to Umfuleni Road’s edge, causing it to collapse and expose the water pipes.

“We are left with no water constantly. This has happened three times on the same stretch of road already and we can’t take it any more,” said Stephens.

Other residents alleged that sewage pipes were also exposed and damaged. In response, AJ Property Holdings’ Miles Taylor denied that the reported damage was a result of construction at the site.

“As you may well be aware, Durban has experienced some unseasonally high rainfall during February and early March, which has caused some storm water damage along Umfuleni Road, that also exposed water mains in the area. It needs to be stressed that this damage has not been as a consequence of our site works,” said Taylor.

He said AJ Property Holdings has engaged with eThekwini’s engineering divisions who are now working jointly with his company’s contractors to address any external water and stormwater-related issues timeously so that the local community is not compromised unduly.

“To this end, substantial remediation work has already been undertaken. Furthermore, the sewage issue originates from municipal sewers above our site works. We have reported it to the municipality who are dealing with that aspect alone,” he said.

Ward 97 councillor, André Beetge, also confirmed that rain was to blame and that the infrastructure was not designed to cope with repeated heavy rains which have become the norm. He added that steel pipes have been installed at weakened sections.

The shopping centre is scheduled to open in November.