Lately, opening your Record or Northsider papers and not seeing an article on potholes, the damage they cause, or residents taking matters into their own hands for repairs is a rarity.
However, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) has happily announced that after nearly eight months their Asphalt Plant is fully functional again. The plant was closed in August 2020 due to technical and operational challenges, meaning that the backlog JRA was already experiencing with fixing potholes was growing even faster.
The plant produces the asphalt used for road construction and repairs, so without it functioning, it became near impossible for JRA to keep up with the number of potholes being reported, and they needed to resort to sourcing asphalt from private suppliers in an attempt to keep up. After a successful site visit to the plant on 29 March, JRA’s Board of Directors said they were encouraged by the readiness of the plant and the progress that had been made.
While not all the key intervention measures outlined for the plant have been put in place, it will remain open while JRA attends to those still outstanding. JRA’s CEO, Republic Monakedi, said reopening and revitalising the plant have been his key priority, and that the measures already there will ensure the plant functions at optimal capacity. He says this will fast-track service delivery from the entity and address the road defects throughout the City of Johannesburg.
The asphalt plant has the capacity to produce 220 tons of hot and cold mix asphalt per hour, and until recently, it seems to have been producing hot mix only. However, for the first time, the plant will produce cold mix to be used for emergency repairs. Cold mix asphalt is a lot more affordable and is usually a temporary solution to prevent damage from spreading when the weather won’t allow for hot mix installation.
JRA is also attempting to reduce their production costs significantly, and therefore plan to activate the recycling facility of the plant to supplement the use of virgin input materials. Potholes can be reported through the JRA website, their email (hotline@jra.org.za) or by calling the City of Joburg Call Centre on 0860 562 874 and following the prompts.
