The issue of public road maintenance
BERGBRON – Residents who are unhappy with maintenance, such as grass cutting, are urged to file a complaint with the City.
A resident has raised concerns about the appearance and maintenance of the area along Gordon Road.
Residents often ask the question who exactly is responsible for the maintenance and cutting of grass on public roads and when this is supposed to be done.
Louise Gordon‚ executive manager of business development of Joburg City Parks and Zoo said, “Grass cutting for the Joburg City Parks and Zoo mandate is done by a combination of staff and contract workers. The difficulty within the city lies with the different mandates. City Parks is responsible for most open spaces but roads, road verges and road islands fall within the mandate of Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) that employs City Parks as a service delivery agent. In this regard, JRA identifies what needs to be maintained and gives us in order to maintain such areas.”
Gordon explained that the period in which this maintenance is done all depends on if the area has been identified by JRA as a priority and if it is a municipal or provincial road.
“If an order is issued to City Parks and the schedule has been approved by JRA the grass cutting commences within an agreed period. It is normally done at the beginning of peak season and then monthly schedules are approved. If it is an emergency and we get the paperwork from JRA cutting commences within the same week, contractors do work on weekends as well.”
Residents should also be aware that the appointed contractor or the staff of City Parks are responsible for picking up the grass that has been cut in the specific area.
Gordon stated that the best way to file complaints if they are unhappy is to use the call centre of the City to get a reference number which will enable residents to follow up on complaints as the call centre does distribute such complaints to the relevant entities.
Details: Call centre number 086 0562 874; joburgconnect@joburg.org.za.
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