JRA, Province amicably agree to cease traffic signal partnership
JRA has began attending only to the 1 992 signalised intersections under its jurisdiction.
Following a period of protracted negotiations between the Joburg Roads Agency (JRA) and the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport, MMC for Transport Funzi Ngobeni and the MEC for Roads and Transport, Jacob Mamabolo, have agreed to end the working relationship that has seen the JRA design, install, repair and maintain traffic signals on behalf of the provincial department as of March 31.
Ngobeni said they could not reach an agreement to renew a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that would have seen the agency continue to actively maintain and repair 231 signalised intersections on provincial roads across the City of Johannesburg.
SLA was entered into between the JRA and the provincial department, with effect from September 1 in 2017 but this agreement expired in August 2020.
“Since then, numerous attempts have been made to renew the SLA but these have been unsuccessful. At a meeting held between myself and MEC Mamabolo in March, the MEC indicated that the reason for not renewing the JRA SLA was due to the entity not having its tax affairs in order.
“The tax dispute between JRA and SARS is going through a legal process, with the agency’s legal team having issued a notification to SARS of its intention to refer the matter to Tax Court. In terms of the law, SARS has 45 days, which is until May 30, to issue a Record of Decision and after that JRA has 20 days to launch the application.
“Based on this development, JRA had a discussion with SARS officials and we were requested to do an online application for a tax clearance certificate on March 25 and we are waiting for the outcome,” he said.
Despite ongoing negotiations, JRA continued to repair and maintain the province’s traffic signals out of concern for motorists frustrated by continuous traffic jams at key intersections across the City, especially during peak hours.
“It is important to note that JRA simply could not leave these intersections unmaintained while motorists, who are none the wiser about whether these were the responsibility of JRA or the provincial government, continued to experience daily frustrations.
“However, with the failure to agree on a new SLA, we decided to terminate the working relationship between JRA and the provincial department.
“As such, a process is underway to hand over to the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport. A total number of 231 maintained intersections will be handed over as per the asset registry,” he said.
The handover is taking place as follows:
• On March 31, a soft handover took place between JRA and GPDRT
• The handover was and will continue to be in terms of the asset registry as well as keys to their controller boxes
•The physical sign over of the intersection design documents will take place
• The municipal accounts will then be closed at JRA and GPDRT will have to open accounts with City Power and Eskom.
• A technician was made available to support GPDRT in terms of site and technical matters from April 1 to 8.
Effective from April 1, JRA began attending only to the 1 992 signalised intersections under its jurisdiction while the provincial department will attend to queries related to its traffic signals.
Motorists who wish to report vandalised, non-functioning or dysfunctional JRA traffic signals should contact the following number 0860 562 874 (0860 JOBURG) and select option 5.
“As the political principal tasked with oversight over roads and transport-related matters in the City of Johannesburg, this decision has not been an easy one but it is imperative that I am transparent with residents and other important stakeholders.
“It is my sincere hope that this decision, and the communication that accompanies it, contribute to the easing of frustrations endured by all stakeholders over the last while,” noted Ngobeni.
