Kaaiman's Pass misery continues
2006-09-05 10:49
Tisha Steyn
George - An indemnity form is standing between more than 200 pupils and
school.
Only about 50 of the 256 pupils who must be bussed across the Kaaiman's Pass have been able to attend school since the pass was closed.
"On request of the principals we are giving preference to the children who
are writing exams," said Praveen Singh, who has a contract to transport the
pupils.
He was given permission to transport the pupils in the large busses on the
condition that he signed an indemnity form in order to obtain a special
permit, but he was reluctant to do that. The education department was
allegedly also still considering it.
'Made peace with the loss'
Meanwhile, people who were not able to reach their places of work were
without income and food.
"Social development will be attending our daily meetings at the joint
operations centre (JOC) in future in order to determine which people need
help," said Gerhard Otto, head of disaster management of the Eden district
municipality.
Water has been restored to Wilderness after a desalination plant was put
into the Touw River. "People must use water sparingly," said Otto.
Residents from Wilderness Heights also experienced a power failure since
Sunday night after trees had damaged cables.
According to Otto engineers started drilling holes into the N2 near the
place where the road was collapsing.
"The aim is to determine how deep the solid rock is on which the bridge was
built and that supports the two outer lanes of the road. This would indicate how
stable the remaining lanes would be after the slope had collapsed."
Geotechnical engineers will fly over the area and take photographs on
Tuesday. "These photographs will be compared to photographs taken by Die
Burger's photographer last week to determine the extent of the subsidence at
Dolphin's Point and other places in the pass."
On Wednesday, the necessary equipment to stabilise the dangerous places
would be brought in.
On Thursday the pass would be "closed to all traffic for about an hour at a
time in order for loose rocks to be removed with high-pressure water". Otto gave the assurance that complete closure would not
take place during peak hours.
Meanwhile, the Saasveld road remained closed for maintenance work and would
remain so even after work had been completed. "We are keeping the road for
when Kaaimans has to be closed once the pass collapses."
People who stop on the pass will be fined, as will be those who speed on the
R62, which is an alternative route for heavy vehicles.
Wim de Beer from Pretoria, the owner of the Dolphin's Point guesthouse,
which was also slipping towards the sea below the N2, visited the house for
the first time on Monday. "I have made peace with the loss," he said.
- Die Burger