12 sinkholes in six months: a road to ruin

• Published date: 04 May 2024
• Author: Genevieve Serra
• Publication title: Weekend Argus

The sinkholes which are 200m in length and had underground piping surface from them, barricaded customers from entering their businesses

Not only have the owners suffered losse but they have been left frustrated with high traffic congestion and an increase in accidents due to a detour.

Experts have warned that repairs and assessments to sinkholes were important to avoid further damage and collapse.

The City has indicated the main cause of the sporadic sinkholes is due to ageing infrastructure and this week repairs would begin at the vacant site.

In a timeline documented, the first sinkhole collapse occurred on August 21, 2023, another on September 14 last year with a third forming a week later and two more shortly thereafter, and many more following up until January.

In a desperate bid to have their voices heard, the businesses have reached out to the media, claiming City officials have remained mum on why a contractor had not been appointed sooner – or what had happened to one which had been appointed earlier this year after a rejection was submitted. The owners also stated they had been in engagements with officials and mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.

Tony Pronk, who has been running his business, Montague Gardens Hardware for 22 years, said they have been left frustrated with a single lane detour and have documented every sinkhole, repair and communication with officials.

“Why did the City officials refuse to listen to calls from business owners to keep the two directional flow on Montague Drive and opt for a detour situation,” said Pronk.

“It caused traffic chaos, accidents and huge loss of turnover for many businesses on Montague Drive. “Why was a contractor not already appointed by mid-January to reinstate the road when the pipeline was repaired?

“It is now three months since the site is standing vacated and the mayor promised that it would start in April.

“This means that the repairs in total (pipeline and road surface) will be about nine months and for all this time we had the ‘detour’ in place causing huge financial loss for businesses on Montague Drive as many people now avoid using Montague Drive.”

Pronk detailed the economic loss to his business: “The impact is the extra time my drivers spend having to do the detour multiple times a day. I have lost approximately 20 to 25% in turnover.”

Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien admitted several sinkholes were experienced during a six-month period but that structural engineering repairs...