The multimillion-rand staircase maintenance project is under way at rental units. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - Hope has been given to the thousands of people who have lived their entire lives in blocks of flats that form the oldest housing infrastructure in the metro, thanks to a R13 million investment in maintenance of staircases.
The City of Cape Town set aside the investment during this year’s budget for the upgrades and repairs to staircases in areas such as Ocean View, Lotus River, Parkwood and Grassy Park.
Severely deteriorated stairs were prioritised in phase one in April and would later move to the less damaged, ensuring that the majority of the stairs at 45 000 City-owned rental units are fixed.
The City said a number of city rental units’ (CRU) staircases have already been replaced and repaired.
“Work at the CRUs is at a steady pace and more than 30 staircases will be repaired and replaced over the coming months,” said the City.
They added that staircases that need urgent repair would be seen to first, to deal with safety risks.
One of the oldest residents at flats benefiting from the repairs, Bahli Pelston, of Onyx Court, said he was relieved to see some work being done.
“We asked numerous times for the repairs and it took years for the municipality to see to our plight,” he said.
“They were not safe any more, broken and shaking.
“I have lived here since 1973 and this is the first time they’re actually doing proper work here.
“They would normally send people to come fix one broken part and leave the rest as it was, but now you can see they have put money and some brains into this project.”
William Akim, a councillor of one of the areas that stand to benefit, said this is a long-awaited project that will help thousands of families.
“Some of these flats are over 50 years old and are occupied by elderly people in most cases or people of different generations,” said Akim.
“Although there’s previously been some maintenance work, the majority of the blocks are in dire need of maintenance, and projects like these go a long way to improving the quality of life for the tenants.”
In Manenberg’s Corrie Court, where the Weekend Argus reported on the issue of electrocuting stairs, there was still no indication of infrastructural repairs.
Resident Eleanor Brown said: “They only came to fix the wiring and that was it.
“The stairs remain the same and we are not sure if the problem wouldn’t occur again."
The City said in their response: “It is important to note that Corrie Court’s electricity infrastructure was severely vandalised, which caused the electricity fault.
“This fault was attended to on February 7, 2023.
“The City can confirm that the staircase is safe for residents to use.”
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