As reported in last week’s Paarl Post, a further two trucks have followed the same route from Wellington up the R301 Bains Kloof Pass and no one in authority seems to give a damn.
Something has got to give.
Since the re-opening of this fantastic heritage site on 15 June 2022, one of few old mountain passes that retains its original footprint and ambience, 11 large trucks, for the most part weighbridge dodgers, have got themselves into trouble (at huge expense) by ignoring the inefficient signage (four on Wellington’s side and three on the Ceres side).
These trucks drive until the tight corners or the overhanging rock stop them dead in their tracks. Locals no longer try warn trucks or head them off.
They must simply go ahead and get stuck.
In SA today there is simply no consequence. Traffic authorities are very lethargic and almost totally absent and have responded only when warned they will be quoted in social media.
The Western Cape Government spent two years and R316 million Rand on Bains Kloof Pass for this rehabilitation between 2020 and September 2022. Then they walked away, with no apparent plan in place for its upkeep.
Gullies, curbside drains and culverts are steadily filling up with stones, fallen rock and litter, unchecked. Rock boundary walls are being chipped apart by heavy trucks and motor accidents.
Trash bins have had their baboon-proof clasps removed by idle locals looking for metal to turn into cash. Some have been crushed by those large trucks turning around in a lay-by.
Hazard signs are being knocked down almost weekly with 15 already damaged/destroyed.
Locals have tried calling on the Provincial Roads Department and Western Cape Government to do something but no one is listening.
The next step will be to take this to Carte Blanche and we are cataloguing both the calls to Provincial Roads Dept, WC government and traffic services with the many photos of the mounting decay and destruction of the infrastructure.
Once the weight of mounting evidence of neglect reaches a critical mass, then social media and public opinion will be brought to bare in an effort to get authorities to wake up and prevent further decay before a further R317 million has to be spent on restoration of this heritage site.
