Joburg Water has, at last, attended to the reinstatement of the road on the corner of Coventry Road and Witney Street in Bryanston.
According to Ward 102 councillor David Potter, an excavation was made to repair a blocked sewer drainpipe. It was around 3m deep, and was left exposed for weeks.
With it being fixed, the councillor acknowledges the entity’s work but says still not enough is done in his ward.
“In Ward 102 alone, there are probably hundreds of reinstatements outstanding that await the attention of Joburg Water.”
He points out that in 2022, Joburg Water took over the reinstatement of road surfaces, curbing, and paving, following water pipe bursts and sewer blockages and has allocated this work to various contractors. It used to be the responsibility of the Joburg Roads Agency, but the entity could not keep up with reinstatements, which resulted in a backlog. He states that in an internal tussle between Joburg Water and JRA, both entities have recently agreed on the way forward with approvals and work quality.
Potter says that early this year, he submitted a formal list of 72 known reinstatements to the executive management of Joburg Water and has been following up constantly.
“At this point, my office is not chasing up any other outstanding reinstatements until this list of 72 is fully completed, otherwise, it would be like chasing ghosts around the corridors of Joburg Water.”
He states that the situation plays itself out in every single ward across the city and could be considered a crisis with a lack of management and budget, but it puts motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians at serious risk.
Joburg Water was contacted for a comment about when the 72 logged reinstatements in Bryanston would be attended to.
On April 21, the Chronicle called Joburg Water but received no response; an email was sent on April 24 to Nolwazi Dhlamini, and received an email that she was on leave and would forward the query to the relevant department to comment by April 26; a final effort by phone was made on April 28, but no response was forthcoming at the of going to print.
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