The City of Cape Town is committed to the long term improvement and regeneration of the Hout Bay beachfront, and the process id being initiated by the rehabilitation of the Hout Bay dunes, and the implementation of a managed dune system at Hout Bay beach.
So says Ward 74 councillor Roberto Quintas, who acknowledges sand dune management is a long-standing and historical problem in Hout Bay due to the disruption of natural sand movement in the area by urban development.
“As such, residents must recognise that even though the City is working towards ensuring that this problem will be significantly ameliorated by the implementation of the rehabilitation project, it is not possible to restore this area to a natural state as it has been irreversibly altered,” he said.
“While implementation of this project is ongoing, the City would like to remind residents that this is a complex project that involves numerous different departments and several required procurement processes, all with varying time frames and dependencies. Residents should be assured that even if they do not see work happening on site, there is significant work taking place behind the scenes to ensure that all the varying project components come together and can be implemented successfully.”
He said the scale of this rehabilitation project was unprecedented in nature, both in terms of the size of the area to be rehabilitated and the complexity of the project.
“However, the City is striving to implement this project as cost effectively as possible while ensuring that it provides an effective solution to ongoing sand management problems in the area, and in a way that minimises ongoing maintenance requirements. The City is aiming to start full project implementation in February of 2017, so as to ensure that there is no loss of momentum during the December/January holiday period, and to ensure that there is sufficient time for suppliers to manufacture required materials.
Once work starts, it is essential that it is carried out without significant interruption.”
In the interim, he said, work was being undertaken to repair the parking area near the old yacht club site. “This parking area was buried under the dune for several years and was recently uncovered as part of preparatory works taking place at the site. Unfortunately, there was some damage to the surface which was then further vandalised over the past few weeks.
“In order to mitigate this damage, the City has removed loose pavers off-site for storage and covered the damaged area with material to discourage further vandalism. It is expected that work to repair this parking surface will commence by early December, as procurement processes to appoint a paving contractor are currently underway.”
