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.
ALSO READ: Joburg Water and Rand Water explain water outages in areas supplied by Hursthill Reservoir
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.”
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.”
ALSO READ: In-tweets: Joburg Water embarks on a prepaid meter data-verification exercise
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.”
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%.
ALSO READ: Joburg Water says it’s working hard to maintain water supply during load-shedding
“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.
Residents are urged to log Joburg Water reinstatements by emailing customer@jwater.co.za or by calling 0860 562874.
ALSO READ: Did you know these facts about Joburg Water?