Urbanisation must be organised

Pierre-Marie and Valerie Barnabe, Hout Bay

It is with attention and interest that we read Mayor Patricia de Lille’s reply to the letter which we sent her about the problems posed by the development of the township of Hout Bay (“Stop promoting development of IY”, Sentinel, May 5).

We thank you, Madame Mayor, for this message and confirm that we are impressed by the dedication and solidarity shown by the people of Hout Bay as well as by the efforts made by City the of Cape Town.

On this subject, we wish to salute the dynamism and the great involvement of the ward councillor Rob Quintas which seems to us exemplary.

However, to be honest with you, we did not much appreciate that you wrote that our letter was “filled with inaccuracies and false information”. It is not our practice to do so, especially when we address officials.

As for the increase of our rates, you can check by yourself and we have at your disposal evidence of what we have written. With regard to electricity,
we paid between R 0.38 and R 0.57 per KWh in 2008 and we now pay up to R2.28, for water we paid R 0.00780 per litre and we now pay up to
R 0.064.

Regarding the phenomenon of “urbanisation”, be sure that we do not ignore it and know its causes.

In recent years on top of the extension of IY, the City of Cape Town has given the green light to many estates such as Kenrock, Avignon, Stoneybrook, Constantia Eagle, and now …Sol Kerzner estate and Vista del Mar?

Urbanisation may not be escaped but must be organised.

This means that the population increase in the Hout Bay valley should have been, or at least urgently should be, accompanied by
obvious infrastructure works.

At present, there is only one narrow and dangerous road to serve a cul de sac valley, a largely inadequate sanitation system with direct horrific effects on the ecosystem, schools that can not accommodate all children, a post office that has not been resized for years … Is it the consequence of a lack of resources presumably?

But then why were millions invested, for example, to illuminate the hill of Suikerbossie where no one lives? Why were millions spent to smarten up a circle at the entrance of Hout Bay that is not yet finished (after more than a year) and is already no longer maintained?