The City of Ekurhuleni has as part of the multi-party coalition government’s back-to-basics service delivery programme launched an R285m citywide pothole repair campaign.
The launch, led by Mayor Tania Campbell and members of her executive committee along with other senior officials was held at the Boksburg Civic Centre on June 15.
Many reports have indicated that most of the municipal roads are in dire need of pothole repair, crack sealing and resurfacing.
Nevertheless, the launched campaign promises to tackle the problem head-on by making repairing the potholes one of the city’s top priorities.
Following the briefing at the launch, the executive, officials and the contractors headed to Sunward Park where the pothole repair blitz kicked off.
They started to repair all the various potholes encountered on Uiterkyk Road as a demonstration to tell the community that the city has arrived to deal with their complaints.
Pothole crews were also seen on the day fixing potholes on other roads across the city. Major and high-speed roads will take priority.
Speaking at the pothole repair sites in Sunward Park, the mayor said the metro is committed to attending to all the noted complaints of potholes throughout the city as soon as possible.
“We have had enough of all the potholes and we have managed in our adjustment budget to put more money towards the repairs of potholes,” said Campbell.
The mayor said the city is working with a public-private partnership to assist in dealing with road defects.
“Enough is enough, our coalition and MMCs have decided it is time to make our roads safe for residents.”
Motorists and cyclists have been advised to expect minor delays along certain roads. The public is also urged to be safe by respecting work zones and giving crews space while they make repairs.
Improved turnaround time
The campaign is expected to improve the turnaround time for attending to reported potholes.
It will see crews from the more than 20 newly appointed contractors hit the major roads and neighbourhood streets across the city to repair as many potholes and other road defects as possible.
Officials say they will be focusing on patching at least 85 000 potholes.
According to HOD for Roads and Storm Water Department, Sizwe Cele, it can normally take about 24 hours for a pothole to be repaired on major roads, and under four days on backyards roads from the moment the metro is made aware of the issue.
He pointed out that normally when there are large numbers of potholes to be repaired, potholes have to be triaged, repairing the worst first before moving to smaller ones.
Cele explained that there are two types of maintenance that they do. One is preventive maintenance where they rehabilitate the road by resurfacing it to sustain its lifespan, and secondly, there is the routine pothole repair.
“We do our own regular inspections, but we mostly rely on the public to report any defects. We have got close to 9 000km of road that is under our jurisdiction so we cannot be everywhere.”
Logistics
Cele explained that sometimes the type of material that they use to repair potholes create challenges.
“For example, most manufacturers sell hot mix asphalt in large quantity, starting from a ton, and you have to use all of it while it’s still hot (high temperature). So, you need to plan well and make sure that you have a sizable amount of potholes to patch before the asphalt turns dry and becomes difficult to compact rendering it unusable.
“However, to adhere to the acceptable turnaround time, we use cold mix, but that is only a temporary measure to make the road drivable.”While there is ‘proactive inspection’ to identify potholes on the city’s road network, officials also encourage residents to report potholes via the call centre or the online platforms.
If you see a pothole that requires fixing, you can report it to the municipality’s call centre on 0860 543 000 or on the app.
