Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) lead by Transport MMC Nonhlanhla Makhuba visited Ivory Park Ext 2 on 27 February to continue its war on potholes and other maintenance.
Potholes are surface failures which extend into the base layer of the road forming a hole. Over prolonged periods and in wet conditions, potholes generally develop into major structural failures, creating increased risks to road users.
The City alleges it has repaired 44 350 potholes across the city since the beginning of the 2017/2018’s financial year.
“Patching portholes is a short-term measure because there is not enough money to resurface. This is an ongoing project which will be conducted over time throughout the other regions,” said Makhuba.
The agency resurfaced a small part of Ivory Park’s road, did some road markings and drainage system clean-ups to avoid sewer blockage.
Residents were very pleased with the upgrades happening in their community. Makhuba said councillors are supposed to attend Councillor Forum Meetings regularly, which is a platform whereby community issues can be raised and addressed even though some requests take time to be approved because of the budget.
“We have had a challenge of human capacity in our regional officers, but we have employed more than a thousand general workers to try and deliver service as quickly as expected.”
The City said it is faced with an R11,8 billion backlog required for the upgrading of the city’s 13 599km road network, of which R7,1 billion is required for repairs to surfaced roads and R4,7 billion towards the upgrading from gravel roads to tar.
Makhuba said, “Citywide JRA is faced with an R81,5 billion 10-year backlog to address the city’s ageing road infrastructure. R11,8 billion for roads, R2 billion for sidewalks, R6,5 billion for bridges and R61,2 billion for dams, catchments and stormwater systems. The excessive damage to our road network has resulted in a rise in pothole reports and increased safety concerns.”
The MMC for transport explained that the roads agency continues to prioritise pothole repairs with R88 million allocated towards fast-tracking repairs and priority roads scheduled for upgrades.
Since July 2017, a total of 520km of roads have been resurfaced, 32,26km upgraded from gravel roads to surfaced roads and a total of 0,3km of open stormwater drains have been converted to underground systems.
In an effort to enhance service delivery, the roads agency is in the process of completing the installation of its R53 million asphalt plant. The new plant will improve efficiency and the production of hot and cold tar mix through improved environmentally friendly processes.
The plant is aimed at increasing the capacity of the agency’s Road Surfacing Depot and seven regional depots with the supply of asphalt for pothole repairs and road surfacing.
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