HRA tackles potholes
The Honeydew Residents Association has taken it upon themselves to begin repairing potholes within their area of operation.
Residents associations (RAs) are pushing to put a halt to the decay of road infrastructure within their areas of operation.
The Roodepoort Northsider recently reported on the Panorama RA, which took it upon themselves to repair potholes in their area.
Spurred on by this initiative, the Honeydew Residents Association (HRA), tired of fruitless efforts to get the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to tend to badly deteriorated roads, decided to launch their own project.
One of the HRA street groups, which consists of residents in Henry and Potgieter streets, managed to raise the funds needed to buy 175 bags (4.3 tonnes) of cold asphalt mix and hire the machinery needed to apply it to their badly decayed streets.
According to the chairperson of HRA, Izak van Rooyen, even this proved too little.
“We managed to fix most of Potgieter Street, but Henry Street is in such bad shape that don’t think even eight tonnes would have done the job.
“Residents that reside within these streets have been logging calls with the JRA for months without success.
“While we wait for the entity to fix our roads, our residents have to endure dangerous driving conditions and damage to their vehicles due to the many potholes in our streets.”
Van Rooyen says that the RAs have on more than one occasion asked the JRA for a way forward in terms of addressing the condition of the roads.
“We have agreements in place with different municipal entities for a lot of the work that we do in our communities, from the cutting and maintaining of verges, to the cleaning of green belts and open areas.
“We have always maintained that we are willing to conduct such operations within the safety and other parameters stipulated by the entity, but the JRA, unlike other entities, have not come on board.
“We could not simply sit idly while our residents are at risk due to the horrible condition of our roads.”
Van Rooyen adds that the HRA will continue with their efforts to secure the infrastructure in local neighbourhoods.
“RAs and individuals in other areas have been fixing potholes on their streets for years. I am not sure why we seem to have got stuck with JRA on this issue, but not tending to our roads is no longer an option.
“Something has to be done before the condition of the roads deteriorates even further.”
The Northsider has directed questions to the JRA regarding the concerns of RAs and will publish their response as soon as it is received.
