It was reported that the agency has started a project to identify all its equipment, including cables, through a geographic information system to combat the problem of vandalism and theft. The identification process should be complete by the end of next year. This will allow the agency to find out exactly where all the rogue cables and equipment are.
The agency has also identified that lightening strikes cause a lot of damage to the city’s traffic lights. While all traffic lights have lightening protection units, the agency discovered that the ground around lightening strikes is filled with high electricity potential which reduces the effectiveness of existing lightening protection. To combat this problem the agency is installing earth mats made of wire mesh around each traffic light.
In 2010 the agency installed 200 back-up batteries, which provided seven hours of back-up in case of power cuts at major intersections around Joburg. All of the batteries have since been stolen. The agency has decided to reinstate 50 batteries at intersections in Joburg but will be using heavy casting to protect them.
