This according to a reader who was responding to the road agency’s comments regarding the challenges it faced monitoring all entities responsible for digging up pavements.
Joburg residents had been speaking out against the poorly managed pavement excavations that are proving hazardous to pedestrians and motorists.
Frans Ledwaba, the agency’s wayleave assistant manager, said monitoring all excavation activities proved difficult because some entities had been digging up the pavements without the roads agency’s permission.
According to Ledwaba, a wayleave, or permission given by the relevant authority to undertake excavation or construction work on its land, had to be granted and those entities and contractors that were granted a wayleave were monitored by the roads agency to ensure protocol was followed and the pavement was restored once the work was completed. Each excavation was dependent on the scope of work and the area should be demarcated.
However, Craigpark Residents’ Association executive tasked with infrastructure, Mack Rogan wrote, “I have difficulty understanding how a wayleave can be issued and the contractor can get away without the pavement being reinstated. It seems like the simplest thing to control.”
He called on the roads agency to enforce that contractors display their company name and contact details, the wayleave reference and work being done, as well as the duration of work at the site.
“Residents will keep these details and follow them up for [the roads agency] if they cannot do it themselves. We desperately need this information to bring these errant contractors to book.”
The road agency’s spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said it did request that contractors provide identification as well safety measures to alert motorists and pedestrians to the construction taking place.
No further information was required at the excavation site but in many cases contractors and utilities failed to display their identification.
