Joburg Water to complete reinstatements themselves and not rely on JRA

It is hoped the move will improve completion times for repairs and maintanance.

October 15, 2022

Emily Wellman Bain 2 minutes read

This crater on 5th Street in Linden was filled after a steel pipe was replaced but has yet to be tarred to complete the reinstatement.

Joburg Water (JW) will now do its own reinstatements following the roads agency’s inability to cope with demand.

When an excavation site is opened by JW to repair, replace or attend to infrastructure that lies underneath a pavement or road, the closing of the site is called reinstatement. This fell traditionally to the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to complete, but JW will now appoint its own contractors to do the job.

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A Northcliff resident, who wishes to remain anonymous because of his work said, “When they dug massive craters in the roads it takes forever for the job to be finished and they create unnecessary mess and destruction.”

Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck posted this helpful image, showing the difference between a hole in the road, in this case a pothole, and a reinstatment which sees the pothole resurfaced.

Spokesperson for JW, Puleng Mopeli said, “Historically JRA was the appointed service provider to carry out all reinstatements on behalf of JW as they are the custodian of the road reserve. Over the years, due to resource shortages and then Covid-19, JRA could not deal with all the requests, and a backlog formed. Thus, after discussions, we will now appoint our own contractors to do reinstatements.”

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She said it is hoped resolution rates for finishing jobs will improve.

MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Michael Sun said, “We must keep in mind that Johannesburg’s pipe network is still largely made up of asbestos pipelines. These are ageing and prone to frequent bursts. As a result, the City’s roads and sidewalks have been dug up in many areas.”

MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department, Councillor Michael Sun.

He explained that beginning of August, JW was faced with 2 168 reinstatements which was reduced to 1081 outstanding reinstatements by the middle of September. The aim is to complete the full reinstatement backlog by the end of November. As it stands, the fortnightly completion rate of reinstatement by JW is about 60%.

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“The war on road reinstatements is gaining momentum as Joburg Water keeps to its commitment to clear the reinstatement backlog as a matter of urgency. Plugging holes left behind on roads and pavements post maintenance and repair operations is critical and residents have rightfully been frustrated at the pace of addressing this issue,” said Sun.