Johannesburg Water is facing a huge backlog of reinstatements around the City with over 15 200 reinstatement jobs completed thus far.
A reinstatement is a process whereby holes left, when the entity has to dig up pipes for repair, are filled and restored to their former state.
Joburg Water spokesperson Nolwazi Dhlamini said that the entity is steadily making inroads. “We are working around the clock with both internal teams and service providers to complete.”
She added that they were aware of the reinstatement in Blandford Road and Simmen Taler Street, North Riding. “Because work is scheduled according to capacity, some reinstatement jobs may take longer to complete.”
Joburg Water contractors fixed the underground pipe almost a year ago and left the road unfilled.
Dhlamini stated that the pipe repair team is different from the reinstatement team. “Ideally, the team should backfill within five days and reinstate within 10 days of repair work being done. But with the backlog we face, reinstatement jobs are being allocated to the internal reinstatement teams for backfilling and the external contractor who does concrete and paving work.”
The unfilled road is causing delays and traffic for the residents coming into and going out of the complexes, especially in the morning.
Resident Randall Sewpershad said, “Cars have to stop and wait for one to pass and we have to drive into oncoming traffic because of this.”
He added that they offered to fix the road themselves but were not allowed by the ward councillor, because it is municipality property.
Ward 134 councillor Devon Steenkamp said the residents needed to apply for a wayleave to be allowed to fix the issue.
“Residents can only fix reinstatements provided they follow the wayleave process; any work done needs to have the correct documentation so that should any incidents occur, there is accountability.”
Dhlamini advised residents to not fix the issues themselves. “This is the responsibility of the City of Johannesburg through Johannesburg Water, especially on road surfaces and road reserves.
She added that there are also compliance standards that need to be met in agreement with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) when reinstating.
“It is best to escalate the matter. This kind of work is allocated to the external reinstatement contractors.”
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