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SAPREF
Att: Margaret Rowe

Dear Margaret,

RE: SAPREF PIPELINE REPLACEMENT PROJECT – ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION

Further to our telephone communication with Carmel Smith and her message from you to BET that SAPREF will not respond to any verbal communication, we have,
as per your request conveyed by Carmel Smith, prepared this letter and a central reference of the complaints on our websites.

At a recent meeting of the Bluff Enviro Team the ongoing SAPREF / Engen Pipeline Project was discussed and the following points were noted
•        The Bluff road network has been disrupted by the pipeline projects for years with constant deviations bumpy poor road surfaces, temporary detours, poor
signage roads littered with trashed hazard equipment, sandbags, broken construction equipment, debris, rubble, pipeline materials, containers etc.  (you can view
photos on the websites which show all the above with date & time record to illustrate how long things are left unattended – http://www.ccotw.org.html  or http://www.
icaasa.net/BET.html
•        Road works have been “over attended” during the day with numerous safety officers equipped to the hilt but after working hours works are totally unattended
with little or no illuminated hazard warnings.
•        Residents and Businesses have been inconvenienced as the Bluff environment has been severely disrupted by the “sloppy careless project management”
•        Roads are constantly being dug up refilled and patched. As the roads are patched so they are once again dug up and re-patched.  The end result is an
unsatisfactory road surface!
•        Repairs are often left incomplete for weeks causing dangerous road surfaces and resultant damage to residents and visitors vehicles.
•        Road signs have been removed and not replaced or if re-erected they are skew and damaged!
•        The project team leaves pipes and debris all over the pavements causing the Bluff Environment damage, to look a mess and the safety of all inhabitants to be
compromised. There seems to be a total disregards for the Bluff Community!
•        Trees have been cut, vegetation removed leaving a baron trashed landscape.  Vegetation that provided protection to the fragile Bluff sand has not been
restored causing wash aways and dangerous road surfaces.
•        Weeks after the pipeline trenches have been backfilled and roads patched the verges, plants, grassed areas, driveways etc remain unfinished. What was
clean Bluff sand is now strewn & polluted with gravel and tar debris.
•        Remaining adjacent road surfaces have been damaged by subsidence causing cracks in the roads with the ingress of water which will ultimately lead to the
roads accelerated deterioration.
•        Adjacent road surfaces have been damaged with scratches and gouges from heavy equipment used on the project. The roads look a mess.
•        With the subsidence of the roads and poor repair work road levels have been completely ignored and the road drainage has been adversely affected leaving
pools of water to soak away into the road or to be splashed out by traffic. Again it would seem that there is a total disrespect for our environment and community.


•        BET request to be informed what safety plans are to be employed to detect leakage and possible environmental damage or explosion of this pipeline through
a densely populated city suburb?

Weeks after the pipeline trenches have been backfilled and roads patched we were informed by Carmel Smith SAPREF that certain sections have been handed
back to Ethekwini Municipality as complete!

Well,  as the Bluff Enviro Team, we are shocked at the abuse of this suburb’s environment and its residents by SAPREF and ENGEN. To think that SAPREF and
ENGEN are going to get away with a “scratch and patch” job after all this abuse is absurd.  It seems to us as though the Bluff residents are treated as second class
citizens by the manner in which the project has been carried out.   

The Bluff Enviro Team offers you this opportunity to state SAPREF / ENGEN Pipeline Projects  intentions in writing for release to the press on how SAPREF and
ENGEN intends to compensate the Bluff Community for the inconvenience, disruption, loss of business & damage caused to the roads and our Bluff Environment.

We suggest that the compensation should be nothing short of a total rebuilding of the roads affected complete with kerbing  & sidewalks as well total landscaping of
all affected pipeline areas complete with a care program to ensure that all plants & landscaping survive the restoration period suggested as 5 years.

We look forward to your reply and advise you of our intention to mobilize the Bluff Community to attend a series of public meetings to address the above complaints
and others that we are sure will surface once we proceed should your press statement not meet with our expectations.
We look forward to your press statement and reply to the above.

Yours Faithfully
The Bluff Enviro Team

H.F.Etheridge (Member) 082-468-5801
Bluff Enviro Team – St Georges Presbyterian Church, Cnr Admiral & Wellfreer  Rd, Bluff.
i
Church on the Way.
St. Georges Presbyterian Church  Bluff, Durban, South Africa.
An initiative of