The Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has reported that construction on 9th Road in Noordwyk is expected to be completed in February this year.
The road upgrades to 9th Road has been an ongoing project since 2019 and was initiated by former executive mayor of the City of Johannesburg Herman Mashaba. For years the road had been a cause for concern with numerous accidents occurring due to it being a dirt road without any traffic calming measures or traffic lights.
The work on the road began at the end of 2019. Spokesperson for JRA Mosa Makhalima confirmed that the road is 87 per cent complete. She added that the stormwaters pipe installation is complete, the paved sidewalk is at 80 per cent, kerbing at 95 per cent, manholes and catch-pits at 98 per cent and 50 per cent of the road has been surfaced with asphalt.
The upgrade was heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown last year. Makhalima said that this affected the contractors’ resources and manpower. “We had to improve and be strict [because] of Covid-19 compliance in order to ensure zero infections.
Progress and site meetings were affected hugely, some members needed to attend via Zoom in order to minimise human contact as the boardroom at the site camps are not that spacious.” She explained that Covid-19 created delays in acquiring the relevant materials for the project while the heavy rains that hit Johannesburg towards the end of last compounded the issues, causing more delays. “We have had quite challenging years due to Water Use Licence Application (WULA) not issued on time.
The general authorisation from the Department of Water and Sanitation was only issued last year on 17 September. In the absence of the above license, the contractor could only access to 50 per cent of the works.
By the time the WULA was issued, we were already in the rainy season which impacted negatively on the progress.” The site was closed on 18 December but work has resumed for 2021. Makhalima said that installation of culvert slab floors, concrete wing walls, box culverts, guardrails, gabions and bus bays still need to be done along with the relocation of city power cables, road markings and signage and surfacing the remainder of asphalt.
She concluded, “JRA is grateful to the community of Noordwyk for their patience, especially the residents who are within the construction [area]. We are also thankful to the councillor and the school for continuous support.”
Details:www.jra.org.za
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