A stormwater project in Bedforview, east of Johannesburg, has stalled for eight months after project managers in the Ekurhuleni municipality resigned and municipal managers were placed on special leave without replacements being designated.

Construction to reinforce the watercourse started in September 2013, but there has been no activity since mid-December, despite the preparatory groundwork having been completed and bricks having been delivered.

The watercourse runs north along Homestead road, underneath Kloof and Nicol roads and the R24 highway, before it enters a dam at Gillooly’s farm where it joins the Juksei river.

Interlocking bricks, used to reinforce the watercourse to reduce stormwater erosion, have been stacked next to the watercourse and 700-mm- diameter concrete pipes are also on the site. A water diversion channel has been excavated to enable the next portion of the watercourse to be reinforced.

The Ekurhuleni Road and Storm Water department, over the course of June and July, was unable to provide details or expected timelines for the restart or completion of the project, as the relevant project manager had resigned without a replacement being available.

The stormwater project started about two years ago, with quantity surveyors taking measurements at the end of 2012. The work on the portion of the watercourse next to Kloof road proceeded rapidly and was completed by December, but work was not restarted this year.

Residents, who have been unable to use the fields around the watercourse since September, bemoan the poor execution of the project and the state that the park remains in. Young men used to have informal soccer matches and practice sessions on the south-eastern field of the park. Pilates classes that were held in the park on warm evenings have also been cancelled.

Security guards confirm that no construction activity has taken place since December, aside from the removal of the temporary offices erected at the site.

The area is host to mostly nonindigenous trees, including willows, eucalyptus and poplars, but also hosts many indigenous bird species, including the green wood hoopoe, crested barbets, the African hoopoe, southern masked weavers, sacred ibises, dikkops, crowned plovers, blacksmith plovers, Cape wagtails, southern fiscal shrikes, Cape robin-chats and Egyptian geese, beside others. Nonindigenous lime-green Kingston parakeets have also been spotted at the park.

Residents fenced off the area in May, so theft of the building materials is unlikely.

The stormwater project is part of a larger initiative to improve stormwater and water management in Ekurhuleni.