New steel staircases for flats

Officials met to assess the condition of the staircases at council flats in Manenberg.

Some of Manenberg’s council flats will have new steel staircases come year-end, according to the City.

This will be part of a three-phase, multi-million rand maintenance programme.

The more than 900 concrete staircases at council flats across the city are over 60 years old and the City wants to replace them.

According to Mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi, there is a R172 million budget this financial year for maintenance – including painting and general repairs – at the City’s 50 000 rental units.

Part of that will pay for a pilot project to install three new steel staircases in Manenberg.

If the community is happy with the new staircases, more will be installed in the next two phases of the project, starting next year.

“The pilot seeks to test a universal design, accessibility and installation pace, primarily due to informal structures located on, beneath and in the access routes to these existing staircases,” Mr Booi said.

According to Manenberg ward councillor Aslam Cassiem, residents have long complained about the poor state of the old staircases, and they hope they can be replaced before there’s an accident.