The house of Fleurhof resident and widow Grace Dollie literally is coming apart at the seams.
She says she is not the only one suffering this fate and is blaming CalgroM3 Developments for the damage to her house. Dollie says she repeatedly has to fix cracks in her walls, roof and stoep wall, allegedly caused by the explosives CalgroM3’s appointed contractors Fleurhof Extension 2 (Proprietary) Limited use in the area.
Dollie alleges that despite the community having been promised that the blasting would stop by August 2013 it continues. She also alleges that the developers supplied residents with forms to claim for the damage caused by their operations but it never was followed up. Now she says CalgroM3 denies that anyone suffered damages. The community has resorted to drawing up a petition and has set a meeting for 29 October to discuss the way forward.
CalgroM3’s project manager Tinus Erasmus has replied to these allegations in a press statement.
He says the rock blasting that currently is taking place is being done at Phase 5, some 550 metres away from the existing Fleurhof community. “The arrangement that blasting would stop in August last year pertained to a previous phase of the development. It will continue from time to time should it be required in a new phase. The contractor does regular tests during these blasts to make sure that they are conducted within the legal limits for vibrations and irritations. They also are implementing mitigating measures to reduce these factors at all times,” says Erasmus.
“We experienced a similar scenario last year when we were installing the civil infrastructure for Phase 3 and 4 of the development. During this installation process we, accompanied by the contractor, had numerous public meetings with the community. It was agreed with the community that going forward all blasting would take place between 2pm and 4pm on weekdays only. We then gave strict instructions to the contractor to comply with this arrangement,” Erasmus says and adds that due to the close proximity, a public siren is used to warn all residents that explosives are about to be detonated. The siren is sounded 10 seconds before and during the blast.
“It is important to note that the closest any blasting was done to existing structures was 160 metres. Vibration and sound tests were conducted during these operations, in terms of the law, and the results showed that the vibrations were well within the prescribed limits. However, the noise or irritation factors did exceed the maximum prescribed limits from time to time. To mitigate this, we instructed the contractor to use more overburden,” says Erasmus.
At the public meetings residents were advised to institute claims if they felt they suffered structural damage to their properties, which then would be referred to the contractors’ insurers.
According to Erasmus the contractor received only nine claims for damage to properties.
“These claims were forwarded to the contractors’ insurance company Zurich, which after conducting their investigations, found that the damage to the properties was not caused by the blasting or the construction-related activities of the contractor,” he says.
“If new information has come to light to indicate that the contractor or its insurance company did not perform their duties properly, such information should be made available to us so that we can address such concerns. Based on the current information and reports in our possession, however, we believe the matter had been resolved,” says Erasmus.
DA ward councillor for the area, Dave Dewes says it was the first he heard of the allegations and has asked the community to contact him in order for him to investigate the matter. Dewes can be contacted on 082 453 9846.
