ACCORDING to the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) estimations, the entity has lost R57,46 million to vandalism and theft in the last year, while criminals and unscrupulous traders have cost the Joburg economy losses amounting to millions in the recent past.
Combatting this scourge will save the City and Ratepayers huge amounts of lost revenue and replacement costs of vandalised and stolen road infrastructure:
* All 200 Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) sites at traffic signals to cope with power outages have been vandalised or stolen resulting in traffic signal downtime when power supply is interrupted. The replacement cost of these is R11 million;
* Two solar panels costing R450 000 each have been completely removed and not replaced;
* Approximately 70 traffic signals are damaged per month through motor vehicle accidents costing R5,24 million per year (2013/14 cost). These then require construction teams to effect the repairs, which is generally a much longer and costlier process than repairing faulty components;
* Traffic light intersections are cut down for their copper wire, components and even the traffic light poles at a replacement cost of R3,62 million per year (2013/14 cost). It is estimated the economic impact of traffic light downtime due to stolen power or copper cables or other traffic signal equipment could run into billions of rands, as non-functioning traffic lights lead to congested roads and impact on transit time for commuters;
* Copper theft has increased to such an extent that the JRA are losing on average R10 million a year to this scourge alone.
Current efforts aimed at curbing theft and vandalism include interventions by the JRA Infrastructure Protection Unit, which collaborates with entities such as City Power, JMPD, SAPS and security organisations to ensure a more effective response.
The JRA will launch a community-based anti–vandalism project to get communities involved in curbing this deliberate sabotage of the city’s infrastructure assets.
The JRA is appealing to scrapyard owners not to purchase CoJ and JRA assets when approached with these items by the culprits, and community members are requested to engage in the City’s Active Citizenry initiative, and report all acts of vandalism and theft of the road infrastructure and City’s furniture to the City of Johannesburg’s Call Centre 0860 562 874 or report these criminal activities to the SAPS or JMPD.
