Durban - The popular Rachel Finlayson Pool at Durban’s North Beach has been reopened to the public.
The city said in a message on its Facebook page that eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda officially re-opened the popular pool on Friday for the public to enjoy.
It said this follows the completion of repairs to this iconic beachfront pool.
Speaking to The Mercury yesterday, Dr Musa Gumede, the deputy city manager for community and emergency services, said the current phase of repair work had been completed.
However, he said more work was expected to continue after the festive season.
The contractors started working on fixing the pool earlier this month and the city had said it would take about a month to complete. It has been reported that the pool, situated along Durban’s lower Marine Parade, had been closed to the public since August 2015.
The municipality has been under pressure to fix the pools in time for the busy festive season.
It recently revealed that it needed close to R24 million to fix the children’s paddling pool and close to R7m to fix the Rachel Finlayson Pool.
Work on the children’s pool is expected to begin once a contractor has been appointed.
The reopening of the pool is expected to be welcomed after widespread scepticism about the safety of the municipality’s beaches following some beaches being closed due to high levels of E coli.
Gumede explained that there was still further work that needed to be done on the pool and to date they have only focused on the essential work that required urgent attention.
“We will open the pool for one month to test it and we will close it again towards the end of January to identify if there have been any major issues that need to be worked on,” said Gumede, adding that the pool surface including the tiling needed a closer look.
Gumede said in the future, with the funds permitting, they will be looking at fixing other amenities that service the pool, such as the change rooms.
Speaking on the speed with which the work had been completed, Gumede said the city had hired the right contractor to do the work.
“It is important to get a contractor who knows what they are doing. This pool was not damaged through neglect, it was issues of work being done, perhaps from the beginning when the work started as you remember that there were two pools that were combined to make this one big pool,” he said.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said they welcomed the repair work done on the pool.
“As the DA, we have been working on this and calling for the pool to be fixed for the last three years. We welcome the news that the pool might be opened soon as that means our hard work is finally paying off.”
* This story has been updated following the eThekwini Municipality’s announcement.