Save the roadway and keep the grass
Dear Editor

Sir, - Having experienced one of the wettest summers ever, the price of mistaken care can be seen in the numerous potholes and flow-ways appearing frequently in and across roadways of all description.

Apart from the threat to traffic caused by such roadway damage, the cost of repair, both labour and materials, is surely an expense the Municipality can do without.
The mistaken care is seen to be the work of “cleaning” whatever, garden or yard area, adjacent pathways. Having chopped out the grass and other vegetation, the bare soil is waiting and ready to be washed away. Earth, stones, pebbles and so on will be swept yet again into the roadway, and the damage begins all over again. Suppose the Municipality was to offer rate rebates to those owners who to foster grassy growths, cut down the run-off, preserve topsoil and in some measure reduce the roadway maintenance costs to a worthy extent?

The grassy area can be cut to keep appearances up, if one likes, or the Municipality could use its cutting team to even more advantages. In the dry season, short grass present scant fire hazard and the dust of springtime could find its unpleasantness reduced.

Pothole Avoider
Windhoek