‘Borehole’ puzzle

Charlton de Koker and Claudine Paulsen at the hole they found in the yard, in New Horizon.

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In addition, the City urges the resident and the resident’s neighbour to see if they could come to some kind of arrangement to achieve what would be in the best interest of both parties.

Ms Paulsen said she fosters seven children and she had feared that if the hole was left unattended the children may fall inside.

Ms Paulsen said Power Construction workers first came to investigate on Thursday November 10. “They came to check, then came back the next day to assess. They told me they will open it up and break out the concrete walls underneath the ground, which looks like a mini grave.”

She said the workers started to chip and drill to remove the concrete slab on Thursday November 17. “They took a whole day to do so and came back on Friday November 18, to check on it. The workers told me they have filled the hole with rubble and broken bricks and sand.”

She said on Friday November 18, when she was doing her washing, she drained the water from her washing machine and water started bubbling in the sand.

“The workers promised that it won’t affect us. But I am worried that the sand is not compacted. Power officials phoned me, that same day, to say they are bringing the compactor to tightened the sand, on Tuesday November 22, between 8.30am and 11am.”

Percy Knight, director of Power Developments, said: “This structure whatever it was, we still don’t know, isn’t something we ever saw or found during the construction of the civil services or houses. When it was brought to our attention we visited the property and we are busy attending to the issue.

“In short we are busy breaking down the structure to one metre below ground level, then will put a concrete slab over the top and backfill and compact the hole back to natural ground level.

“This has been discussed with the building inspector and our engineer to confirm and approve method statement. Presently the hole has been demarcated for safety reasons and holds no danger to the structural integrity of the house.

“Lastly I just want to place on record that when the owner approached us we immediately visited the property, removed the slab to ascertain and investigated the options with various authorities for the best solution to the problem plus we safeguarded the area as per normal regulations.”