Half the residents in Howard Street, Birguma, have been grievously disturbed psychologically and physically by the half-measures regarding the road works taking place there.
The unlucky ones consider their part of the road to be transformed from a neglected area into a 'war zone'. Since then, we have had constant dust storms, caused either by a gust of wind or a car driven in five centimetres of fine dust. The stress has been endless and yet our street is to remain half-finished.
These are some of the events that happened shortly after workmen - and not the local council - informed us that tarmac works are to start:
• One resident was told that workmen were going to remove the pavement (about 30 metres) that was recently redone at her expense, simply to be redone by the contractor hired by the council. She protested and asked them to leave it till the last moment.
• It then transpired that the council had later changed its mind and was not going to tarmac the more important part of Howard Street.
• A trench was dug up to extend a water main that leads nowhere. It is not needed for many years to come.
• Another neighbour was upset and also protested with the council after she heard that tarmac was not going to reach her end. This will eventually leave her with a wide, long pool of water and mud when it rains - a long-standing inconvenience.
• At the same time another resident had the pavement in front of his residence (about 30 metres) removed and redone. All it needed was some maintenance at one end.
• All along one side of the cul-de-sac, which is part of Howard Street, a metre-wide pavement about 350 metres long has been eliminated. Appeals to the council not to remove this useful pavement were fruitless. Residents were only told to write and that the person responsible has no time to give his attention to this matter.
The lucky ones, whose residence is situated in the cul-de-sac area, enjoy the sympathy of our councillors. Surely they cannot complain!
A new resident who very recently had also redone the pavement to perfection (about 50 metres) had it removed and redone by the contractor.
Another resident had the pavement widened to double the original width.
On the other hand, the three couples who live at the far end of the cul-de-sac have been provided with a pavement consisting mostly of ramps for double-door garages and driveways, which leaves little or no pavement to walk on.
This all amounts to bad management and a waste of public money. Howard Street is frequently used by cars. Tarmac should have been provided for the entire stretch of this road.
Hundreds upon hundreds of metres of good pavement were removed only to be redone by the contractor hired by the council. This simply does not make sense.
The elimination of a pavement that has existed for well over 15 years is deplorable.
No one should expect improvements without some sacrifice. But when you are first told that an upgrade is on your doorstep, and then given a string of bad news at the start of this dusty and chaotic operation with no gain, you simply feel cheated.
You feel doubly cheated when you realise that all this inconvenience and spending of council money is taking place to provide tarmac surfacing for a handful of residents at the cul-de-sac part and not the residents as a whole.