Durban- The North Beach lifeguard tower and the promenade was saved by an emergency sand replenishment initiative by the eThekwini municipality.
The sand replenishment process was shifted to another portion of North Beach.
The contractor Subtech Group are working day and night to pump sand from an offshore dredger the Ilembe into a pipe leading onto North Beach. The sand is being pumped onto the beach.
Mike Frew, a Durban surfer has been keeping an eye on the progress made.
"Tens of thousands of cubic meters of sand have been pumped onto the beach over the last two weeks, it’s already a massive difference," Frew said.
Front-end pay-loaders and excavators have been moving the sand to reach the level of the promenade.
The lifeguard tower was recently undermined by erosion. The platform around the tower and a nearby old pump station were suspended in mid-air. Sand now surrounds the tower.
The popular bathing area still remains closed for safety reasons.
Fiona Scott-Berning, Subtech spokesperson, said all media-related issues were to be directed to the eThekwini Municipality.
Mandla Nsele, eThekwini’s spokesperson, said this was an emergency joint operation between the city and Transnet. North, Dairy, Country Club and Battery beaches remain closed.
The city website stated that between 1851 and 1926, with the gradual development of Durban Harbour, the channel was dredged deeper and deeper.
To prevent the entrance from being blocked, a large sand trap area was created just south of the harbour mouth to collect sand moved northwards with the current, and two harbour mouth piers were constructed to deflect the drift away.
Thus the supply of sand into the Durban “bight” (main beachfront area) was interrupted and erosion began.
Debi Coulson Grove took to Facebook to post what she had seen. She said "Looks amazing, I was down there early Saturday morning and could not believe the huge difference already! Well done to all that got the ball rolling."