Problems delay compensation payout-Nyeku

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Wednesday July 7, 2010 00:00

 

Nyeku says due to these problems, there have been delays in the compensation of some people whose yards are affected by the project, noting that the contractor has not been doing things according to plan.

'For instance, the contractor should have taken photographs of the yards before commencement of the project,' the Mayor says. 'This would have made it easier to know the actual impact and by how much people should be compensated.'

Procedurally, people whose houses have been affected by the project should report the impact to the contractor, who then assesses the situation before compensating the claimant, Nyeku says.

But due to the contractor's failure to take photographs, some people have been making claims for cracks in their houses that were not caused by the project.

Nyeku says people are now spending a lot of time to meet the requirement to prove that their houses have been damaged by the project.

The Mayor took the opportunity to say that lack of a title deed does not prevent genuine claimants from due compensation. 'Normally we use our council list of names for people who had been allocated SHHA plots to determine whether someone is the rightful owner of a yard.'

The P175 million upgrading project has left a trail of rock mounds, uneven yards and knee-deep holes in the ground since its commencement in 2008. It should have been completed in June this year, but Nyeku says the contractor has since applied for an extension of the contract.

Hopefully, Monarch - which is the oldest and biggest suburb in the city - will celebrate 44 kilometres of sewer line, 41 kilometres of a water reticulation system, 34 kilometres of stormwater drains, 40 kilometres of road and 22 kilometres of street lighting.

But despite these expected benefits, some people insist the compensation is too little.